Leading Wine Producer

Challange

Opportunities for efficiencies were unclear due to a lack of actionable data.

With a single facility boasting a bottling capacity of almost 5-million cases, in the world’s largest winery, even a small percentage of label damage represents significant loss. Quality rejects from label tearing and aesthetic damage as well as waste from equipment testing were previously thought to be an unavoidable cost of business. These areas were identified as an opportunity for improvement but ownership and management lacked accurate data to take corrective action.

Solution

In-line data from ShockQC™ and PressureQC™ prevent catastrophic damage and prioritize improvement projects.

ShockQC and PressureQC sensor systems were deployed to collect data directly from the line to identify areas of improvement that would yield highest ROI. Only months into the project, the ShockQC and PressureQC systems have been used to decrease downtime, minimize aesthetic and catastrophic damage, and reduce label tearing to the wine bottles. From a maintenance perspective, the systems have been used to track escalating areas of issue and test new equipment prior to purchase and also to test new bottle designs. ShockQC is a smart replica of glass containers, cans or other fragile containers to measure IPS and G-Force to identify the root cause of damage with 99% repeatability. Location tracking with wireless Bluetooth beacons pinpoint the origin of damage and opportunities for improvement. Outfitted with pressure sensitive film, PressureQC smart sensor replicas are placed on the line to measure scuffing and squeeze load for glass, PET and canning industries. Location beacons identify where to take immediate corrective actions and prioritize maintenance tasks to minimize rejects and extend bottle life.