SubscribeSecomak’s bottle dryer equipment has proven itself in cider bottling applications for Magners.
A bottling line at Magners manufacturing facility at Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland has recently had its bottling line equipment upgraded, proving to be a success with higher bottling and higher bottle labelling speeds gained in a more consistent process.
As part of its ongoing drive to improve quality, Magners Irish Cider have installed three of Secomak’s PowerStrip bottle dryers on the bottling lines at their Clonmel Factory in Ireland.
This was required because of a higher reject rate than normal due to misaligned labels on the pint and 330ml long neck bottles produced at the plant. As product appearance and presentation is just as important to Magners as what is inside each bottle, the company has the most stringent requirements for the labelling component of its production process. Each label must be perfectly aligned or the bottle will be rejected, causing unnecessary wastage and cost.
Bottle Dryers
Commenting on the challenge of the Installation, Secomak Sales Manager David Mayes said, ‘The cider is bottled cold, which quickly causes condensation to form on the neck and body of the bottles. This moisture must be completely removed prior to labelling or the labels can easily slip out of alignment and water can collect under the foil wrap around the neck, presenting possible hygiene concerns to customers’.
Consequently the PowerStrip bottle dryers were located just before the bottle entry into the high-speed bottle labelling machines. These have been designed so that they can provide streak-free drying at a bottle line speed of 68,000 bottles an hour.
Cider Bottling
Magners' cider bottling quality assurance manager, Paul O’Sullivan, said: The Secomak bottle dryers have had an immediate effect on quality. They have allowed us to reach very high bottling and labelling speeds with complete confidence. They also give our customers the added peace of mind that the bottle necks are dry under the foil wrapping’.
The PowerStrip is a fully modular drying system that allows a range of drying modules to be combined as a single drying solution for virtually any conveyor - based production process. It utilises a variety of technologies including blower-driven air knives, induced vacuum and suction components, compressed air micro nozzles, as well as state of the art control systems.
The systems are custom configured using the most suitable technologies according to the application.