FOOD AND BEVERAGE SECTOR

Codorniu

Industrialización despaletizado de botellas de cava

CODORNIU congratulates IFC TEAM on the solutions and service provided by the team of technicians to provide a technologically complex response in a record period of time, which allowed its integration into our product lines, without affecting our usual estimate of manufacturing.

Vicenç Segales Minguella, Responsable de ingenieria Grupo CODORNIU
Codorniu

THE COMPANY
CODORNIU, a pioneering firm in the cava industry in Spain, began its activities in the 16th century. In its long history, it has known how to combine tradition and innovation to develop in the excellence of the product and the efficiency of the processes. This balance has driven its growth, sector leadership and international recognition that very few companies have managed to achieve.

THE CHALLENGE
Automate the depaletization operation of empty bottles, in turn increasing the capacity of the existing installation by 60%, replacing this with an innovative, creative and new technological solution in its sector, whose implementation, start-up and transition period should have present and minimize any impact on the productive capacity.

THE CONDITIONANTS
We had to take advantage of some parts of the existing installation, integrating them into the new solution. This generated a higher degree of difficulty than the existing one in any new installation. The short line downtime available to carry out the implementation meant that the planning of previous tasks and the actual execution of the installation was a key factor in the project.

THE SOLUTION
The combination of a robotic solution for depaletization the bottles and the use of servo-controlled handling elements to eliminate the spacers between bottle floors, proved to be a successful solution in order to achieve very restrictive cycle times, while maintaining at all times the safety of the process.

Challenges and advances in new solutions always involve risks, not just technological ones. In this case, CODORNIU made a significant commitment to Technology, which decided the company managers to choose the solution provided by the IFC TEAM team: it was based on the experience obtained in other technologically cutting-edge sectors such as automotive.

THE RESULTS
CODORNIU, aware of the experience that IFC TEAM's human team could contribute, decided to assign it the execution of the project. After the technical definition phase and the corresponding industrialization, it was possible to confirm the objectives pursued in terms of meeting the facility's capacities: 40,000 bottles / hour and having achieved the integration of the new equipment without altering the usual production levels. The Codorniu technical team also highlights that both the plant distribution of the elements and the technical solutions implemented for the associated material handling elements such as pallets and separator plates have led to a significant improvement in terms of ergonomics and production efficiency of the jobs in the area.