Capital Brewing Co’s end of line automation upgrade doubles product output.
Fibre King delivers a turnkey end of line packaging solution featuring the company’s latest range of compact end of line packaging equipment.
The Challenge: Capital Brewing Co were looking to automate their end of line packaging processes to meet consumer demand. It was also important for Capital to improve safety within the facility and to free up labour to be redistributed to more effective areas of the business.
The Solution: Fibre King delivered a turnkey, compact, end of line canning solution that reduced direct labour requirements, met Australian safety standards and met consumer demand that allowed for future growth. The end solution was efficient, compact, safe and cost effective.
Services Rendered:
Project management and seamless line integration with existing equipment
Full line simulation
Drawing on the company’s extensive experience with canning lines
Equipment Used:
Can carrier applicator
Little Packer Case Packer
Compact Modular Palletiser
Infeed and outfeed Conveyors
The Details:
Capital Brewing Co was born out of passion for the Brindabella Wilderness, where ripping first tracks through snow would become the pristine water used in their beer. Their ethos is good for nature and good for the people using all-natural ingredients including some of the world’s best water from the Capital’s very own backyard. It’s little wonder that Capital needed to start looking for suitable automation solutions to meet their growing consumer demands. An increase in output efficiency as well as creating a safer working environment for their employees were high on the priority list when seeking a suitable solution.
“We no longer manually pack 6 packs, cartons and pallets. We had a few workplace injuries, mainly RSI from operating glue guns. We now have the ability do double our filler speed and have created a safer working environment doing it. Looking after our team is our first priority.” Says Laurence Kain, Managing Director of Capital Brewing Co.
“We’re proud to say that all staff who lost their positions on the packaging line through automation were re-trained and deployed in more rewarding areas of the business.” adds Laurence.
Capital chose a Fibre King solution that resulted in a highly efficient, full turn key end-of-line canning solution for their Fyshwick, ACT facility. The line included Fibre King’s new Can Carrier Applicator that caters for both Paktech and Biopak’s environmentally friendly can carrier’s keeping with the company’s values to be kind to the environment. The cans travel along conveyors firstly to be grouped in packs of six or four where the can carrier is applied. They continue on to the infeed of the case packer, aka “Little Packer”, where they are put into cartons at up to 5 cases or 120 cans per minute. The fully sealed cartons then continue along conveyors to the Compact Modular Palletiser (CMP) that neatly stacks the cartons onto pallets ready for stretch wrapping and distribution.
“The planning from Fibre king was exceptional and made me feel confident in their solution. While we had to conduct the Factory Acceptance Testing via video link due to COVID travel restrictions, Fibre King did a very thorough job of pre testing the line to ensure it met timing specifications. The focus from Fibre King on operator safety was impressive and far beyond what I have seen from similar equipment imported from overseas”. Says Laurence.
What’s important for Capital Brewing Co when choosing equipment for your production line?
“When choosing equipment to use in our facility our decisions are based on value - not necessarily the cheapest quote. Will the supplier deliver a quality product that will stand the test of time and not cause regular line down time? Can they provide effective after sales service and does their equipment meet the Australian Standards for safety, electrical etc. I have seen plenty of disasters with imported machines that need complete electrical workovers and custom guarding to be fit to operate in Australia.”
“When implementing automation, you get what you pay for, if you save money on install, the cheap equipment will make it back with unplanned down time. Fibre King did not provide us the cheapest solution available on the market, however the equipment runs effectively and our OEE numbers are starting to take shape in a positive direction as we dial in operations.” Says Laurence
Wrap Up
“Overall Fibre King has been a terrific supplier to work with. We have had some unexpected issues with equipment, some of which because we are operating in extremely cold temperatures, any issues we have had Fibre King has been right there to work through it with us. Fabian, Dale and the install team have been fantastic to work with.”
“Fibre King provided excellent attention to detail right from the start through to commissioning and their after sales service has been fantastic.” Says Laurence.
Fibre King was particularly proud to be a part of this project, recently launching their Compact Range of Equipment. This project reaffirmed the company’s decision to extend their range of end of line packaging equipment to cater for Australia’s smaller manufacturing facilities by offering compact, affordable, low speed solutions. “It is fantastic to have more breweries come on board and include our compact range of equipment in their production lines as they scale their business and move away from manual packing. It’s a great industry to be able to support, full of great people providing Australian’s with great beer.” Says James Windsor, CEO of Fibre King.
