Purchasing packaging equipment is a decision that will impact a winery’s operations for the next 10 to 20 years — the life expectancy of most packaging machinery. In the 1990s, empty bottles arrived at wineries in cases for manual unloading and placement on the filling line. Converting to bulk bottles and depalletizing machinery increased automation levels and reduced costs throughout the industry.  Beth Zarnick‑Duffy Area Sales Manager / Clevertech North America, Inc. “A big reason wineries changed from manual to automated depalletizing of bottles was to increase production efficiency while improving worker safety and reducing labor costs,” explains Beth Zarnick-Duffy, who worked on many of these conversions. “Wineries continued to automate because finding and retaining qualified workers became even more difficult in the past few years. Companies also began factoring COVID-19’s negative impacts on the workplace into their decisions about w

At booth C-2000, A-B-C is featuring our next generation smart technology in depalletizing, case erecting and case sealing that brings optimized production and operation, simplified maintenance, and total connectivity to the packaging line. Putting complete control into the hands of the packager at the operator station and factory control center, as well as A-B-C remote access, these machines provide continuous, real time status of machine operation and productivity plus complete data for OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) review. The Model 108 depalletizer offers flexibility to run glass, plastic, composite and metal containers in many styles–interchangeably, with no change parts. This robust machine is built for production with a heavy channel steel frame, oversized drive shafts, precision sweep mechanism and counterweighted elevator table.  Layer stabilization and four side container control are standard features to ensure top performance. The Model 400 case erector/sea

Reverse taper bottles can present a depalletizing challenge because their smaller base configuration causes instability during transfer. A-B-C's Model 108RT, depalletizer with proprietary features maintain bottle stability for reverse taper bottles during high speed transfer from the pallet and throughout single filing. These features include devices that square and secure the top pallet layer and also the secondary layer prior to container transfer, and maintain the slipsheet firmly as the top layer is swept from the pallet to the loading table. In addition, each product load is kept under control on all four sides from the pallet throughout the depalletizing process, to contain the bottles in a tight pack, which enhances stability. Bottles are single filed with a conveyor designed to gently “pull” them from the pack and guide them to the line conveyor. Picture frames and slipsheets are automatically removed, separated and stacked. The depalletizer’s compac

Reverse taper bottles can present a depalletizing challenge because their smaller base configuration causes instability during transfer. A-B-C's Model 108RT, depalletizer with proprietary features maintain bottle stability for reverse taper bottles during high speed transfer from the pallet and throughout single filing. These features include devices that square and secure the top pallet layer and also the secondary layer prior to container transfer, and maintain the slipsheet firmly as the top layer is swept from the pallet to the loading table. In addition, each product load is kept under control on all four sides from the pallet throughout the depalletizing process, to contain the bottles in a tight pack, which enhances stability. Bottles are single filed with a conveyor designed to gently “pull” them from the pack and guide them to the line conveyor. Picture frames and slipsheets are automatically removed, separated and stacked. The depalletizer’s compact desi

Reverse taper bottles can present a depalletizing challenge because their smaller base configuration causes instability during transfer. A-B-C's Model 108RT, a depalletizer with proprietary features maintain bottle stability for reverse taper bottles during high speed transfer from the pallet and throughout single filing. These features include devices that square and secure the top pallet layer and also the secondary layer prior to container transfer, and maintain the slipsheet firmly as the top layer is swept from the pallet to the loading table.  In addition, each product load is kept under control on all four sides from the pallet throughout the depalletizing process, to contain the bottles in a tight pack, which enhances stability. Bottles are single filed with a conveyor designed to gently “pull” them from the pack and guide them to the line conveyor. Picture frames and slipsheets are automatically removed, separated and stacked. The depalletizer’