Complete filling lines for Molson Breweries

The Canadian brewing group Molson is upgrading all of its packaging lines. In the first project, a turnkey 60,000 bph plant was installed in Toronto. A subsequent order went in for a 60,000 bph bottling line at Molson’s Edmonton brewery, where the existing line was gradually replaced with new equipment from Krones.

The following machines were installed and started up:

• Contipac packer
  The Contipac packer has five packing heads with 48 gripper heads each and can handle 1,300 bottles per minute. Each packing head handles two 24-bottle cases at a time.
• Sander Hansen pasteurizer
  Besides PU control, the pasteurizer also has an analysis program for determining the exact kill time. An automatic rotary sweeper arm facilitates bottle feed and removal at product changeover.
• Multimatic labeler
  The Multimatic labeling concept includes 4 cold glue labeling stations. Two of these are for applying body labels, enabling quick label changeover. A neck labeling station and a station for applying back labels complete the machine.
• Checkmat inspector
  An x-ray unit checks for proper fill level. Two cameras check for precise back and neck label and cap positioning. The DART (distributed architecture for real time) analysis strategy ensures detection of even the tiniest errors.
• Mecafill VKPV filler
  The VKPV filler is the system typically used for bottling beer. Two pre-evacuation steps create a low-oxygen atmosphere in the bottle to ensure optimal beer quality. An integrated CIP system and automatic hot water flushing of the filler star wheels, roof table and valve exteriors ensure clean bottling conditions.
• PalBloc palletizer
  A case turning station upstream of the palletizer ensures that cases are fed into the machine in the right direction. The palletizer can create individual layer arrangements to suit 12, 18 or 24-bottle cases and create various units for storage.