Ocme palletisers improve logistics for Italian wine cooperative

Packaging equipment company Ocme recently installed a centralised palletising plant and packing lines for wine cooperative Cavit S.C. in the Trentino region of northern Italy.

Formed in 1950, Cavit is a cooperative that represents 4500 of the region’s wine growers who are members of 11 cellars. Cavit’s headquarters handle 60% of the wine production in the Trentino region. Ocme has a long relationship with Cavit, having supplied the cooperative’s packaging machinery since 1976.

The Ocme layer forming system with manipulators.

Cavit currently has four filling lines, operating at 180 cartons per minute. The cooperative was seeking a single solution for the four production lines for product storage, palletising and wrapping with stretch film for the total output. After labelling and verification of the weight and shape, the products needed to be transported to their new automated warehouse via two automatic elevators with a drop of 5 m.

Other companies’ solution proposals involved four palletisers; Ocme came up with a solution requiring only two, reducing the number of operators and amount of annual maintenance required.

Ocme installed a centralised solution of two automatic palletisers to handle production from the four filling lines. The systems can palletise two different products at the same time on two pallet sizes. Each palletiser uses a new rotating system for the separation, division and preparation of the packing layer through manipulators. The system has increased efficiency as it gently handles the packs, reducing damage to cartons.

Ocme’s layer forming system in action.

The new system centralises all production data, statistics and diagnostics on PC, enabling users to create new palletising programs.

Ocme has installed similar palletiser units for a range of food and beverage companies, including Barilla, Plasmon, De Cecco, Buton and United Distillers (now known as Diageo).