Tropical juice bottler installs cooling and handling to meet tight deadline

Enterprise Tondelli installed Bigtem cooling for Grace Foods UK, where hot-filled glass bottles had to be prepared for labelling and end-of-line.

The 475ml bottles are filled at 92degC and then require cooling to less than 35degC before labelling. A two-zone Bigtem tunnel cooler manufactured in stainless steel is at the core of the project, with steam heating of the different zones to avoid thermal shock during initial start-up.

An integral blower at the tunnel discharge as well as conveyor drip trays are used to collect all the water and reduce consumption. This water is collected in a tank, recirculated through a cooling tower (supplied as part of the project) and then fed back to the cooling zones.

The project was also an opportunity for Grace to increase line accumulation and efficiency, with Enterprise in Italy supplying a buffer ‘merry-go-round’ conveyor with up to six minutes’ accumulation capacity. This is located just before the self-adhesive labeller and allows the line to continue during a label reel change without stopping and restarting. This helps, too, with micro stoppages and so increases line output.

Factory manager Sarah Jones compliments both the Grace and Enterprise teams on a job well done. “After a reference visit to another Enterprise installation and past experience, we knew that the partnership would work well,” she says.

Grace engineering manager Tony Carter comments on Enterprise Tondelli’s attention to detail.  “The project had a very tight timeline but we were very impressed with the effort Enterprise made to ensure deliveries and the project were completed in a timely fashion,” he adds.

A special drying tunnel from Enterprise Tondelli eliminates water on the bottles or under the caps before labelling to improve application. Another key focus was ensuring the conveyors were self-clearing at the end of production.

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www.enterprisetondelli.co.uk