Beam's case packers minimize breakage

When it comes to case-packing machinery, few bottling operations are more demanding than those at Jim Beam Brands Co. The owner of the 211-year-old bourbon brand Jim Beam has grown dramatically over the past few years, from the seventh-largest to the fourth-largest spirits company in the world, by expanding its product portfolio through corporate acquisitions and by introducing new spirits and wine brands.

With a steady stream of brands, such as the DeKuyper® Pucker® line of schnapps, Knob Creek® ultra-premium bourbon and Starbucks™ Coffee Liqueur, the case-packing machinery at Jim Beam plants must handle glass bottles coming down the production line in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and textures.

The case packers must be capable of adapting to anything from red, rectangular, frosted bottles containing cinnamon schnapps to the cylindrical Starbucks Coffee Liqueur bottles that taper down to a narrow base. The Starbucks bottles are a good example of packaging that is designed for effective marketing, yet poses a challenge for handling by automated equipment. Winner of the prestigious Overall Package Design award of the Glass Packaging Institute (wwww.gpi.org), the elegant shape of the Starbucks Coffee Liqueur bottle suggests a cocktail shaker. However, the top-heavy shape and relatively small base can present a challenge as the bottles move through the case-packing operation.

“With our large portfolio of premium products, we need case-packing equipment that can adapt to a wide variety of bottles, and do so quickly and easily during our frequent changeovers,” says corporate packaging engineer Robert Land. “The case packers need to be gentle on our premium packaging, and they must operate reliably at a high speed, because we have limited accumulation space upstream on the line.”

A photo eye detects voids in the flow of bottles as they enter the lanes into the case packer, top. Drop-in lane-guide spacers and a patented, lightweight snap-in grid facilitate bottle changeovers, above.

During the past decade, Jim Beam has installed five case-packing systems from Standard-Knapp, Inc. (www.standard-knapp.com) as it has expanded capacity and retired aging systems. Its first Standard-Knapp machine, a 939 Versatron™ case packer, was installed in 1995 at its Clermont, KY plant. The machine packs 36 cases/min of Jim Beam bourbon in 1.75-L bottles. “We were very pleased with the reliability, performance, and the ease of operation and maintenance of the Standard-Knapp machine,” says Land. “With the success of the Clermont system, we began purchasing Standard-Knapp equipment for the most demanding packing applications at our other facilities.”

Jim Beam now has four 939s Versatron case packers handling bottles of cordials at rates of 25 to 30 cases/min at its plant in Cincinnati. The 939s model features a servo system with a soft-catch mechanism that dramatically reduces breakage. The two-axis servo system allows the Versatron to actually catch the bottle as it descends into the case. The lift table moves the case to the up position and waits for a full grid. When the grid is full, the riding strips shift to the side and initiate the bottle descent. The lift table simultaneously moves the case downward on a velocity curve that ultimately achieves the same speed as the bottles at the point of contact.

Case packers at Jim Beam must be able to adapt not only to a wide range of bottle sizes and shapes, but also to different case sizes

“The soft-catch capability is especially important for cordials, because they are very sticky and sugary, and bottle breakage can cause a huge mess that is difficult to clean,” says Land. “Now, we rarely experience bottle breakage, and when we do, we can hose down the machine, because it is one-hundred-percent stainless-steel. We are up and running again in minutes. The stainless construction is a big advantage. We do not need to worry about rust and repainting.”

Another advantage, according to Land, is the convenient changeover that can be completed in less than 15 minutes without tools. The Versatron easily adapts, not only to different bottle sizes and shapes, but also to different case sizes. Quick changeover is made possible by a touch screen operator interface, dropin lane-guide spacers and a patented lightweight snapin grid. One of the Versatron machines at the Cincinnati plant runs eight different packages, including rectangular and round bottles in three different sizes.

The versatility of the Standard-Knapp case-packing machinery has been put to the test at the company's Frankfort, KY plant. A single 939 Versatron packs Starbucks Coffee Liqueur in 375- and 750-mL and 1-L bottles of varied shapes.

“We pride ourselves on installing major pieces of equipment in a carefully planned and deliberate manner,” says Land. “We expect a thirty-to fifty-year useful life from our machinery, and we are confident that Standard-Knapp equipment will help us to meet those expectations.”