Endoline Machinery has designed a new random case erector (RACE) for a Northern Irish egg producer’s fully automated packing facility.
The RACE system allows for different-sized cases to be run at any one time and eliminates downtime as each hoppa can be re-loaded with cases while the other side continues to operate. The machine is capable of feeding up to three packing lines at any one time and incorporates Endoline’s unique, dual-opposing vacuum technology, which ensures each case is opened positively to overcome any tearing.
The new technology accompanies the UK-based company’s highest specification systems, which were installed at Ballygarvey Eggs’ new facility in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Ballygarvey had opened the fully automated site after realising that its manually operated packing plant could not sustain the volume of output required for some of the egg producer’s largest consumers.
Ballgarvey annually supplies 250m eggs, with 60% going to supermarkets and the remaining 40% being delivered to foodservice customers throughout the UK and Ireland. With 25 different configurations of egg boxes, Ballygarvey needed an automated line that was reliable, high speed and, above all, flexible to deal with changing demands from supermarkets, Endoline said.
Endoline sales and marketing manager Andrew Yates said: “Two different case sizes can be run on the RACE system at any one time so each hoppa is loaded with cases – one size per side – and during the packing operation a sensor, fitted to the packing line conveyor, will communicate which case size is required. The RACE then automatically adjusts itself to form the case required and send it down the relevant line – all of this can be completed at a speed of up to 14 cases per minute. Significantly, the time it takes to change or load more cases into a hopper are eliminated as, while one hopper is re-loaded, the other hopper can still be in operation.”
Ballygarvey Eggs managing director Mark Davison added: “The company is continually expanding so we designed and built a new packing plant just 5km away from the original unit. While this site would remain manual, handling small volume lines, we wanted the new site to be a fully automated, state-of-the-art egg packing plant to deal with the number of variations in packs for our larger customers.
“Our new facility is the high-spec packaging plant I envisaged and it offers Ballygarvey scope for future growth. While all of the systems have contributed towards this, the new Endoline RACE machine has been a significant contribution and, for a brand new design, it has not missed a beat.”
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