FrieslandCampina Thailand, a local branch of the global dairy company, has turned – once again – to Gebo Cermex to install an efficient and cost-effective end-of- line solution, handling its new Foremost plastic bottles, which feature a complex shape. Thanks to a 360° approach applied to wrap-around mechanization, the company achieved the outstanding speed of up to 500+ containers per minute.
FrieslandCampina, one of the world’s largest dairy companies, produces and sells consumer products such as dairy-based drinks, infant nutrition, and cheese in Europe, Asia and Africa. The company’s regional branch in Thailand handles an impressive 300 million tons of milk per year. As part of the local successful performance of dairy-based products, Foremost portfolio stands out as the best-selling group of references. For their newly-shaped Foremost PEHD bottle, running on a dedicated production line in Samrong, the company was looking for a secondary packaging solution able to deliver on great speed and reliability, to keep their total cost of ownership (TCO) as low as possible.
Vertical start-up within a week
Gebo Cermex applies a 360° approach to wrap-around mechanization, underpinned by gentle primary packaging handling, extended secondary packaging knowledge and largemechanization expertise. With more than 1200 machines installed world-wide, the company is the right partner when it comes to material handling. When the team at the plant explains why they chose Gebo Cermex as their preferred supplier, they address the highly structured and professional support received in all stages of the purchasing and installation process: “They helped us in validating different formats in-house first, so that we could guarantee that by the time we received the equipment in our production facility in Samrong we just ‘Plug & Play’ and then we can get the result we wanted. It’s like a vertical start-up. We chose Gebo Cermex because it is the only manufacturer that can deliver the expected performance within a week.”
Excellent technical support throughout the installation process
Renewing their confidence in Gebo Cermex was the natural choice for FrieslandCampina Thailand, due to the long-lasting business relationship between the two companies and the positive experience the customer has had with a wrap-around packer installed as part of a can line at the same plant ten years ago, which – thanks to its high robustness and reliability – is still running today. The driving factors behind the purchasing decision were the core competences in line engineering and material handling shown by the team at Gebo Cermex during the pre- contracting phase – instrumental in determining the best technical solution and layout to suit the customer’s objectives – and the extremely structured and professional approach to commissioning. FrieslandCampina Thailand's team continues, “A big thanks to Gebo Cermex for the technical support along the way: Running a new production line in a big factory like this always involves problems here and there that cannot be controlled beforehand. But the Gebo Cermex team is very flexible and has a high expertise. They are truly willing to support us and that is the key reason why we can start-up this line successfully.”
Outstanding performance
The Thailand-based dairy company recognised the opportunities to optimise the TCO of their end-of- line operations by choosing wrap-around blanks rather than traditional “Regular Slotted Containers” (RSC), therefore meeting the goal of reducing secondary packaging costs by more than 30%. To achieve this, FrieslandCampina Thailand opted for a wrap-around case packer machine, together with a bottle line divider at packer infeed – flexible enough to divide the flow from one lane up to eight lanes, depending on the bottle format – and the conveyors connecting the solution to the production line – both upstream and downstream. This configuration ensures an impressive speed of more than 500+ shaped bottles per minute, equal to 24 cases per minute.
Continuous innovation
The latest addition to the Gebo Cermex portfolio of wrap-around solutions is the WB46. It offers excellent performance in terms of flexibility, hygiene and ergonomics, suiting the needs ofmanufacturers active in a broad range of industries, from food and beverage to pharmaceuticals and home and personal care.
