Packing and palletising technology for Rotkäppchen Sektkellerei

Today, one in three bottles of German sekt comes from “Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellereien”: at four tradition-steeped facilities, more than 300 staff produce high-quality sekt, achieving a turnover totalling around 350 million euros. The sekt winery created after a long slump as a consequence of the German reunification was able to continuously upsize capacities in the nineties.

In 2006, it celebrated its 150th anniversary:

• 1991 – first Krones line rated at 12,000 0.75-l bottles/h.
• 1996 – commissioning of a new Krones high-speed filling line rated at 18,000 0.75-l bottles/h. After Line 2 had been commissioned, Line 1 was used to fill 18,000 0.2-l bottles an hour.

For both Line 1 and Line 2, Krones was the main contractor for both the wet and the dry end, additionally incorporating specialised machines from other manufacturers. Line 2 has been integrated so as to ensure that the two Pressant Universal rotary-column bulk-glass sweep-off depalletisers, the three KAF carton erectors and the two Pressant palletisers are located next to each other, and can be jointly supervised.
The three KAF carton erectors supply the packer of Line 1 and the Contipac packer of Line 2. After passing through the Variocol carton sealer, the cartons in Line 2 are fed via a vertical conveyor and turning stations to a Pressant Universal palletiser with a high-level infeed. The finished pallets are transferred to an automatic truck loading station where the trucks can conveniently dock. The complete loading formation of 16 x 2 europallets is automatically inserted into the truck in less than two minutes.