The customer had an existing dedicated production unit to manually fill plastic bottles which was labour intensive and inefficient. The customer approached Arnott to develop an automated solution that would enable the process to flow from start to finish.

Solution overview

Bottles are stored and deposited into the storage hopper of a flighted elevator.  They are then delivered to a holding area above a puck delivery system.  The two items meet with the bottle being placed into the puck, creating a stable transportation system for the bottles when they are conveyed for filling, capping, labeling.

Due to the random deposit of bottles into the storage hopper, Arnott had to devise a unique way of orientating the bottles to ensure they nest the correct way up within the holding puck.

The shape of the bottles is uniform, which allowed a mechanical divert unit to direct the bottle back to the holding hopper if it is the wrong way round in the flight.

Synchronizing the bottle with puck was straightforward by ensuring that both are ready in position to meet.  This was achieved by creating a puck storage conveyor and sensing both items.  The necessary gating system was integrated electrically and pneumatically operated.

The puck then travels to a filling head. The filling operation was converted from a manual foot switch, to an automated filling operation.

After filling and capping, bottles are transferred through an automatic labeling machine.  The products are then diverted to a storage rotary table for manual collection. Thereafter, full bottles are manually transferred into outer cases.  The empty pucks are allowed to return back to the storage area.

Arnott provided an on site study of the process to understand and develop the required automated solution. Arnott designed and manufactured the conveyors and necessary control. The system was then successfully installed and commissioned to the customer’s satisfaction.

satisfaction.

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