Greenfield project for wine bottling

As one of the biggest European companies for producing and exporting wines from the USA, Australia and New Zealand, Constellation Europe has numerous fast-growing brands in its portfolio. From several different facilities, the company provides the UK market with a wide range of wines. By taking delivery of 2 new bottling lines at its plant in Avonmouth, Bristol, the firm has upgraded and expanded its capacities for Banrock Station (Australian), Turner Road (Californian), Echo Falls (Californian), Rouwke's Drift (South African) and White Cloud (New Zealand) in 0.75-l bottles with ROPP closures. These lines, each rated at 24,000 bph, have been installed as part of a greenfield project, and include not only the process technology but also the entire storage tanks, together with bottling and packaging lines for red and white wine, and in future for carbonated beverages as well.

• Process technology and storage
  In the cellars, a complete piping system has been installed, including a VarioClean CIP system and a carbonation unit. Connected to this piping are a total of 84 storage tanks, each with a capacity of 55,000 litres.
• 2 bottling lines, each equipped with a Variojet rinser and a Mecafill VKP-CF filler
  The electronic Variojet single-channel rinser is installed upstream of the filler, and rinses the bulk glass prior to filling. With the Mecafill VKP-CF filler, the company has opted for an electro-pneumatically controlled filler with fill level correction. Automatic CIP cup feed enables the cleaning steps at a product change-over to be performed with automated swiftness.
• Fill level inspection with a Checkmat FM-X based on DART image evaluation in realtime, including a camera for closure inspection
• 4 Accutower buffering systems for buffering the filled bottles, located respectively between filler and labeller, and between labeller and packer. These dynamic buffers smooth over any brief interruptions in production, e.g. due to make-ready routines, and increase the line’s overall equipment effectiveness.
• 2 Multimodule modularised labellers with 3 APS3 stations and bottle orientation systems
  The modularised Multimodule excels in terms of flexibility, and at Constellation is used for applying self-adhesive labels. At need, the modularised system also enables labelling stations to be linked up for cold-glue labelling or wrap-around labelling, either reel-fed or precut.
• 2 Checkmat inspection systems featuring DART evaluation technology for monitoring labels, capsules and data codes
• Packing and palletising equipment
  Each line features a Pressant Universal 1N depalletiser, a Wrapapac 80 carton packer, and a Pressant Universal 1N for palletising the cartons
• LDS line documentation system
  The LDS is used to store and document the production and filling data, thus enabling line efficiency analyses to be created.