Packaging
Krones complete-system solutions
Tuesday 21. October 2008 - At the Emballage 2008, to be held from 17 to 21 November at the exhibition centre in Villepinte, Paris, Krones AG, Neutraubling, Germany, will be showing some of its numerous complete-system solutions. Including a newly developed pack grouping unit and a modularised labeller plus solutions for life-cycle service and intralogistics.
For fast and reliable grouping of non-returnable packs, the newly developed Robobox constitutes a compact-size, versatile unit for pack turning and distribution, offering maximised scope for every variant of pack grouping. Whats absolutely new about the Robobox: during the entire turning and distribution operation, the packs are neatly guided by a gripper. Visitors to the Emballage can see the Robobox in action, together with the Modulpal 2A linear palletiser.
The new Sleevematic M sleeve labeller is the versatile solution from Krones for a wide range of dress variants, whether its full-sleeve, part-sleeve or tamper-evident sealing. As a modularized machine, the second generation exhibits even more compact dimensions. It can be put together from a choice of different reel holders and alternative shrinkage variants. Accessibility to the station has been improved, the functional dependability upgraded, and change-over of all handling parts has been simplified for concomitant gains in speediness.
A Sensometic VPVI probe-controlled filler in hygienic design and with reduced change-over times will be on show. As a counterpressure filler, the Sensometic VP is a highly versatile machine. The bandwidth of possible products here ranges from beer and alcoholic mixed beverages, plus all kinds of water and soft drinks to hotfill beverages like juice and fruit-juice-based drinks with and without pulp. The Sensometic filler is also available in a neck-handling variant for filling PET bottles. The filling valve, with its swirl insert, ensures reduced foaming and low oxygen pick-up. And this new filler design achieves remarkably low noise emission values.
Perfect label placement and correct date-coding are crucial to the quality of product packaging. When labels are inspected by the Checkmat EM, with its total of four cameras, a CCD camera checks that the labels are accurately positioned on the container. The system also detects whether the correct label has been applied for the product concerned. In addition, it can read numbers and lettering in plaintext, and thus check that the date-codes are correct and complete.
Intra-plant logistics is increasingly being recognised as a core process in production facilities. Krones took this trend on board at an early stage, and is able to offer users cost-efficient solutions for this exacting application as well. When it comes to logistics, or more precisely intralogistics, Krones provides all-inclusive concepts, utilising standard vendors for individual components of the overall system. This means that as a neutral integrator with a holistic approach to systems engineering, the company can provide every client with a material flow solution individually customised to his own particular needs.
In the new interactive internet portal called “LCS Remote Service”, Krones has grouped together all the existing online features being offered by its Life-Cycle Service operation. With an appropriate access authorisation, both Krones customers and Krones staff will in future be able to access the portal all over the world, even during trips. For the first time, it incorporates all the LCS remote services, for direct utilisation. These include the Help Desk with assistance for technological questions, remote diagnostics and teleservice, the eGate and eCat spare parts catalogue and shop, plus agreement inquiries and the range of upgrade options, which every customer can in future generate himself for his own machinery.
In the special exhibition themed around “Sustainable Development ” in Hall 6, Krones will also be showcasing its “PET lite 6.6” concept study, which constitutes a new milestone in the field of lightweight beverage containers. 500 millilitres of still water can be “packaged” using just 6.6 grams of PET. The concept exemplifies the way Krones proactively tackles the never-ending challenge of creating a cost-efficient beverage plant with built-in eco-friendliness.