Energy-efficient pallet conveyors to keep production flowing at CCA

Energy-efficient conveyors requiring less than half the drives of conventional pallet conveyor systems will transport and accumulate bins used in production at Coca-Cola Amatil’s new preform and closure manufacturing facility at Eastern Creek in Sydney.

The new $57m facility is part of CCA’s ongoing vertical integration of its manufacturing operations, which includes ‘blow-fill’ technology to produce PET beverage containers. The preform facility will produce 2.8 billion preforms and closures for CCA’s beverage bottle self-manufacture operations.

Dematic’s integrated pallet conveyor system will transport collapsible bins from a series of assembly stations and accumulate them ready for production. The accumulation pallet conveyor system provides staging capacity for up to 20 empty bins, with a system throughput of up to 45 bins per hour.

Once empty bins are erected, the conveyor system accumulates and transports the bins to a pick-up station where they are collected by an automated guided vehicle (AGV) and taken to production.

When bins are full or no longer required, AGVs return them to a drop-off point where they are conveyed and accumulated by the conveyor system for forklift removal. The bins are then stored until they are despatched to CCA’s beverage production plants.

David Rubie, Dematic’s Industry Group Manager Manufacturing, said the new unit load and pallet accumulation conveyor was a versatile solution for many manufacturing and distribution applications. Developed by Dematic technology partner Qubiqa, it provides a number of benefits compared to previous generation conveyors, which typically require additional drive motors for each section of accumulation conveyor.

“Fewer drives reduce both the installed and ongoing costs of conveyor systems,” said Rubie.

“With conveyors in manufacturing applications typically running multiple shifts or even around the clock, the conveyor’s reduced energy requirements will substantially lower running costs.

“Fewer drives also reduce maintenance and parts support requirements, further reducing operating costs,” he said.