Page 107 - AMEFT Journal 2021-4
P. 107

enterprising spirit but also the desire to give our customers sustainable and future-proof systems,” explains Dirk Dünnhaupt, KHS Sales Manager for North Rhine-Westphalia. This compa- ny philosophy was a key aspect in the implementation of the current project.
In 2018 the first talks were held be- tween the mineral water bottler and KHS. After some complicated technical negotiations, Bad Meinberger decided to turn its existing returnable PET line into a combined system that can pro- cess both PET and glass bottles. The good condition of the machine park had a considerable impact on the na- ture of the decision reached, with some of the KHS machines in use for over 15 years. The fact that Bad Mein- berger also attaches great importance to having trained expert personnel regularly service and clean its plant engineering also paid off in this respect. In 2019 the project then entered the concrete planning and offer phase, for the strategy adopted by the Dortmund systems provider had proved convincing.
A challenging undertaking
The conversion focused on the KHS Innoclean EM bottle washer that has been in successful operation for 17 years at Bad Meinberger. The KHS team changed the machine so that it can now sanitize both PET and glass bottles. This was a very challenging undertaking, Dünnhaupt claims. “The cleaning processes for the two con- tainers differ greatly. There’s the dif- ference in temperature for a start, as glass bottles are washed at consider- ably higher temperatures. Further- more, with PET bottles the label has to be cut off before rinsing; with glass bottles, the machine washes the label off.” KHS duly mastered both chal-
lenges through smart optimization of the Innoclean EM. Firstly, it developed a special procedure that makes the recooling and heating process during container changeover more efficient and sustainable. This greatly improves the consumption values on the bottle washer. Secondly, the KHS team also engineered a system for label discharge. Thirdly, the spray pumps were opti- mized. They now only run at full power when there are bottles in the machine. During downtime or breaks the spray pump pressure levels are automatically lowered. This helps Bad Meinberger to save on water and electricity.
In addition to the bottle washer, the plant’s packers and unpackers in the Innopack PPZ series were also adapted to the new setup. The KHS experts fit- ted the packaging machines with new format sets and packing heads so that they can now cater for the different bottle and crate formats for PET and glass.
Increased efficiency and improved hygiene
There was one new investment the bottler didn’t want to do without,
however: KHS’ powerful and efficient Innofill DRS filling system. “Convert- ing the machine over to a combined system meant that this new invest- ment was unavoidable,” Dünnhaupt states. “As glass bottles don’t have a cap ring like PET containers, the filler can’t grip them by the bottle neck. This means they have to be conveyed by the base, a feature the old ma- chine didn’t have.” The former mod- el is also inferior to the DRS when it comes to the efficient use of resourc- es. The filler’s high level of hygiene was another key factor that triggered the decision to opt for this particular system. This is facilitated by the ma- chine’s rotary design and installation of the motors in the frame. The auto- matic CIP caps also play a role here. Thanks to the practically operator- free technology, not only are hygiene and safety improved but also the de- gree of efficiency.
The modernized system went into production in the middle of March 2021. The line fills and processes up to 30,000 returnable 1.0-liter PET bottles or a maximum of 33,000 0.75-liter glass bottles per hour.
PROCESSING & PACKAGING
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AMEFT 4 2021 107
“Quite simply, the people at KHS did a really good job. They managed this mammoth task extremely professionally and on time – despite all of the corona restrictions,” says Volker Schlingmann, Managing Director of Bad Mein- berger, of the work done by the experts from KHS





















































































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