Schubert line carefully packs champagne bottles with high efficiency
- High line efficiency
- Careful product handling
- Compact machine design
- Simple configuration
- Transmodul in use
Requirements
Packaging at a high level: careful, efficient and flexible
Carefully pack 150 champagne bottles every minute: At Veuve Clicquot, the French champagne producer, the champagne bottles are carefully packed without damaging the delicate casing by a packaging line from Schubert.
The refined label and the high-quality glass body of Veuve Clicquot’s champagne bottles must not be damaged in any way during the automated cartoning process. This is ensured by Schubert’s packaging line. Three F44 picker stations combined with a Transmodul make a grouping chain superfluous. The tools of the four-axis robot grip the bottles without touching the body or neck label, thus the champagne is packed carefully and effectively, at a rate of 150 bottles per minute.
Solution
Simple configuration options provide flexibility
Besides the careful product handling, the packaging machine for the champagne producer is also characterised by its efficiency and flexibility: the winery in Reims, France uses the system to pack 75 cl bottles into two different carton sizes. The smaller cartons contain two carton inserts of three bottles each, while the larger ones fit four carton inserts. The packaging machine’s flexibility became apparent already when the work was still underway in the assembly hall and a new requirement was added: the batch number needed to be laser-printed onto the bottom of the bottles. Thanks to the modular system technology, it was possible to implement this without any problems even at that stage of the work.
We are packing our champagne with a higher output rate and flexibility. However, this does not mean having to accept more complexity. On the contrary, the line has a clear design and is convenient to operate and maintain.
Henri Darré
Technical Director at Veuve Clicquot
Technical Details
Automation with a flexible picker line ensures efficiency and high quality
The line, consisting of eight sub-machines, packs 150 bottles of champagne per minute, but is only three metres wide and thus saves a huge amount of space. It includes a product conveyor for the incoming bottles, a Transmodul section for the cartons and another section for the carton inserts. The F44 picker tools are designed to not touch the body or neck labels when picking up the bottles. Even in the subsequent packaging process, no shocks or direct contact occur, which means that the Veuve Clicquot champagne bottles leave the machine as undamaged as they were when they were fed in.
- Eight sub-machines
- Flexibility with packaging sizes
- Up to 150 bottles per minute
The Veuve Clicquot packaging line, consisting of eight sub-machines, is efficient, flexible and ensures that the delicate bottles are handled carefully.
Six F4 robots pick up the bottles individually, tilt them 90 degrees so they are horizontal and place them into the carton inserts. The robot tools are designed to not touch the body and neck label.
The Transmoduls on the left carry the cartons, the Transmoduls in the middle the carton inserts and the product conveyor on the right the champagne bottles.
The carton inserts loaded with bottles are placed into the cartons.
Each insert fits three bottles.
Efficient packaging for twelve bottles: the larger carton contains four carton inserts of three bottles each. The smaller size of carton fits three carton inserts.
