New glass line and a high-bay warehouse for Störtebeker

Highly complex Varioline

Whereas for warehouse organisation und production planning, it is the brewery’s product-specific crates that pose one of the biggest challenges, for the packaging process itself it’s the second pack that proves an exacting requirement: the closed-basket sixpack. “This multipack accounts for around a third of our sales. But in regard to production, it is a highly elaborate type of packaging. This is because to prevent customers at the retailer taking out individual bottles from the sixpack, a lid is placed over each sixpack as a cover, which is then glued in place,” explains Jürgen Nordmann. That’s why it was important to Störtebeker to find a machine that not only works as the packer but also meets this additional stipulation – while likewise providing maximised flexibility into the bargain. “With a batch of 2,000 hectolitres of beer, we pack around three quarters of the bottles in 20-bottle crates and the remaining quarter in precisely those multipacks. Then three of the latter at a time are placed in a box. And here, it is vital that the change-over between the different types of pack is particularly fast and uncomplicated,” says the brewery’s boss.

A system that meets all of these requirements is the Varioline from Krones. It works with 10 robots, distributed among four modules. In the first module, the baskets are erected and the bottles placed into them. Module 2 fits the packs with lids and glues the lids into place. Modules 3 and 4 place three sixpacks at a time in a crate serving as the transport packaging. Here, the challenge was that only three packs are actually needed from the linear four-pack formation handled in Module 2. Krones’ packaging experts therefore developed a principle under which the 18-pack crates are supplied in four subcycles. “And getting this right at a goods flow of around 40,000 bottles an hour is rather tough – but Krones, with its Varioline, managed it all right,” says Jürgen Nordmann, full of praise.

And that’s not all. In addition to the existing configuration, Störtebeker can also produce 17 further pack variants, including both sixpacks and pack sizes of four, eight or ten bottles. Störtebeker’s Varioline system is the most modern version currently up and running – since it is the first to feature the new TIA control system from Siemens, enabling a maximum degree of automation to be achieved. Yet another beneficial side effect is this: the layout installed at Störtebeker takes up only about half the space that traditional packaging kit with the same output would need.

Holistically conceived logistics concept

True to the motto of “Everything single-sourced”, Krones supplied not only the Varioline but all the other machines in the line as well: from the Modulpal Pro depalletiser and Linapac II unpacker, then the Lavatec E4 single-end bottle washer, right through to a Modulfill HES filler for glass bottles and a Multimodul labeller with three labelling stations for one neck and two different body labels. For ensuring a lengthy shelf-life for its products, Störtebeker adopts a dual approach: for its natural shandies of the Strandräuber brand, its alcohol-free brewing specialties and the Hanse Porter, the brewery uses a LinaFlex pasteuriser, whereas all other products are passed through a VarioFlash B flash pasteuriser that Krones has fitted with the latest version of its Connected HMI platform. The finished packs are then palletised and taken to the high-bay warehouse by the floor track system.

The fully automatic high-bay warehouse and the associated warehouse control system were supplied by System Logistics. The warehouse with its eight aisles provides just under 30,000 slots that are served by six storage and retrieval units. The floor track system supplies the warehouse both with empties, like bottles and crates, and with ready-for-sale packs. “In actual fact, there’s more goods being moved here than goods lying in storage,” says Jürgen Nordmann. “About 4,000 pallets are moved each day – an incredible number when you remember that we used to do all of this with fork-lift trucks.” The fact that the high-bay warehouse and the new Krones line have been accommodated in the same building, just separated from each other by a wall, minimises transport distances and maximises logistics automation.

Krones assuming overall responsibility

“When we concluded the contract with Krones in 2017, it was important to us that Krones would be supplying not only the bottling line but also the intralogistics with the high-bay warehouse, and that the customising work needed for the SAP system, plus the SitePilot automation solutions, were all constituent parts of the order,” is how Jürgen Nordmann sums up their requirements. “You see, as a mid-tier company, we need a partner assuming overall responsibility – now and also later on for the after-sales service support.” The fact that Krones, despite its size and international presence, has still retained its mid-tier character is greatly appreciated by the brewery’s boss: “Krones has remained a down-to-earth company, something you notice particularly in the way they communicate with you on everything to do with planning and organising such a big project. From the management right through to the user level, it is important to communicate frankly and transparently because the new investment does, of course, entail a transformation process as well. So it is crucial that the employees have all been taken on board on equal terms and are evolving together with the project – and this is precisely where Krones did an excellent job, that’s something you won’t find often with a corporation this size.”

And Jürgen Nordmann is also full of praise for Krones’ foresight and innovative vigour: “With Siemens, Krones has always had a very good control system. And we ourselves have for years been using SAP, and now the software solutions developed in-house at Krones, for our production kit. All in all, we’re operating at a very high level of quality – and we hope that together with Krones we’ll get to grips with Industry 4.0 all right.”