Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG (BINA)

The challenge

Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG (BINA) is a leading manufacturer of convenience and fruit products as well as ready meals and beverages. BINA belongs to M-Industry, which combines 23 companies in Switzerland as well as nine production facilities and various trading platforms abroad. As a trend setter on the market, BINA wanted to process new squared bottles for its juice and iced tea drinks while still running round bottles on the same line – all of it in a very compact area of the plant –at up to 50 cycles per minute at the shrink-wrapping stage. This was challenging for three main reasons: first, the orientation of squared containers had to be controlled within the whole process to get a pack with correctly facing bottles. Second, flexibility was a key requirement for BINA given its wide range of bottle formats – from 250 ml up to 2l – it is processing on the line. Third, compactness has really been the key deciding factor.

The solution

Sidel’s new infeed system was the only one allowing a one-of-a-kind, compact line layout with the guarantee of no jamming at the shrink-wrapper’s infeed due to its design. The new shrink-wrapper is equipped with a very compact and reliable unifilar 90° infeed system where the flow is managed on one lane, directly from the sleeving machine, with no lane dividing system needed. The flow of juice and iced tea bottles is instead going straight to the shrink-wrapper. The high reliability of this innovative and unique infeed secures a very critical part of the shrink-packer, allowing the management of any shape of bottle, round or squared.

The outcome

The selecting device with lateral brackets delivers the right number of products per row while ensuring the necessary distance between each row. These rows are then transferred at a 90° angle by an ‘on the fly’ pusher, which redirects the flow of three to five bottles in accordance with the shrink-wrapper’s flow direction. The installed system is technically capable of running at a maximum speed of 150 cycles/minute, depending on the exact product size and shape. The solution is complemented by a tray module, delivering tray-plus-film packs. For changeovers, the proven shrink-wrapping solution embeds automatic and easy-to-adjust systems, with operators guided through each step directly via the Human Machine Interface (HMI). 

To also accommodate the need of the tray-plus-film option, Sidel designed a removable rolling tray magazine, which can be extracted from the shrink-wrapper when running a format without tray support. The circulation around the line is then much easier for the consumables and the operators. It is, in essence, a ‘plug and play’ module with a central cabling connector.