Suntory Japan installs conveying solution to improve efficiency

Suntory Japan’s newest bottling facility, Shinano-no-mori Plant, is the production home for its Tennensui mineral water, produced in a lightweight PET bottle. The weight of the bottle increases quality risks during production, such as dents being caused by contact between the bottles or bottles falling.

The company required a product handling solution that would protect the bottle’s exterior and prevent the possibility of bottles falling. Suntory installed the Sidel Gebo AQFlex product conveying and accumulation solution, which is designed to be gentle and contactless, handling containers in a single lane.

The fully automatic solution has a compact all-in-one design which has enabled Suntory Japan to improve its line layout and achieve high productivity while ensuring employee safety.

“Gebo AQFlex has improved our production line in many ways, from the space-saving aspect, the simplicity of layouts to the wide range of automation solutions, and it has contributed to improving the line’s operating rate and quality,” said Toshiya Kobayashi, Chief Operating Officer, Global Technical Department at Suntory Japan.

Suntory Japan currently manufactures two types of bottles at the plant, the small 550 mL plastic bottle and the large 2 L plastic bottle, but the solution has flexibility to increase and introduce new bottle formats if needed in the future.

“The solution can accommodate any product, whatever the application, in all container materials, formats and shapes,” said Nicolas Bossert from Sidel.