FEATURE Robotics
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Traditional German brewery requires Kawasaki robots
T
he Gräfl ich zu Stolberg’sche Westheimer Brauerei in Marsberg, Sauerland, Germany, has been brewing regional beer specialties for the local and international markets for over 150 years. To become even more competitive and avoid any skilled worker shortages, the Westheimer Brewery decided to automate its entire production.
Mainly older mechanical solutions
remained in use at the brewery, most of which from the early 1980s. In particular, the old palletising system took up a lot of space, in addition to being susceptible to malfunctions. Thus, for the brewery it was a logical step to automate the entire infrastructure and production. The brewery team decided on robotic solutions from Kawasaki Robotics. With the Kawasaki CP500L palletising
robot, the full automation of bottle production began. In addition to the robot’s speed and precision, decisive purchasing arguments included its simple setup and programming, independent loading of machines and the Cubic-S safety system. The added value of the robotic system quickly became obvious: Before, the palletiser had to be shut down step by step, to allow for the pallet to be loaded manually and separately for full and empty crates. Employees are now relieved of this manual task, instead driving the forklift truck. Both the full and empty crates now run down a conveyor belt, automatically pushed into position and placed on the pallet by the robot. An important advantage is that more crates are on the move at the same time, and no longer must be parked to one side as before, thanks to an automated, optimal capacity utilisation.
After the successful setup of the palletising system, the brewery modernised its entire bottle production, adding two more Kawasaki BX200L robots, for packing and unpacking bottles. Their integration was also straightforward. Since all relevant machines remained in the same place and the robots only have a small footprint, only safety fences and new belt settings were added.
26 March 2023 | Automation
A challenging market The brewery market has changed massively in recent years. Whereas in the past it used to be about brewing one type of beer, in small or large bottles, today there’s a growing number of private labels, lemonades and other beverages, some produced for other companies – all of which add to variety. This leads to production and team challenges, and robot-assisted production off ers the fl exibility needed to meet those. For example, the Kawasaki Robotics BX200L in the packing station can pick up moulded parts independently, and change over to new varieties in a very short time and without much eff ort. The laborious and time-consuming changeover of the line is no longer necessary.
Setting up the plant At the brewery, the crates with empties are fed from the fi rst fl oor to the bottle line via a conveyor system. There, a BX200L robot removes the bottles from the crates with a gripper and places them onto a conveyor. The crates are cleaned in a waiting washer and fed to the packer. A Kawasaki Robotics BX200L removes empty bottles for further cleaning. The empty bottles are transferred to the bottle washer via a feeder. There, the bottles are fi rst checked for damage, incorrect shapes and other inconsistencies, and then intensively cleaned. After cleaning,
the bottles are additionally checked by an inspector. Only the bottles in perfect condition move on, to be fi lled, checked again, labelled and packed into the crates provided by the packer – another BX200L. By switching to double crates, the speed of the packer has been increased signifi cantly once again. The fi lled and ready-to-sell crates are then fed via the conveyor system to the palletiser for further processing.
The automation process Above all, the signifi cantly reduced running costs – especially compared to older machines – have brought tangible advantages for the Westheimer brewery, and in a very short time. The robots run easily and reliably, requiring minimal maintenance, and freeing the operators for other tasks.
Automating the production was also of
crucial help during the recent pandemic: although the eff ects on the restaurant trade and the reduced demand for draft beer were clearly noticeable, the demand for more bottled beer and greater product variety grew. This meant that capacity was always fully utilised.
CONTACT:
Kawasaki Robotics (UK)
https://kawasakirobotics.de/en/ 01925 713000
automationmagazine.co.uk
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