Not just a ‘show and tell’

In just over a month the Masitek team is heading to the beverage industry’s largest trade show, Drinktec. But we aren’t just packing up our signs and sensors to head across the pond from Canada to Germany. We are actively developing technology innovations, partnering with research institutions and are heads-down, pulling together to deliver as much value as possible to our clients and prospects at this show which only held every four years.

While at Drinktec, we are releasing at two major technology innovations and preliminary results from a joint study pertaining to bottle glass performance during processing.

Delivering more than just a product:

Over the past number of years, the bottling industry is increasingly focused on sustainable packaging with a double goal of an increase in profits and reduction of their environmental footprint. (In my mind it may be one of the leading industries for the efforts put into the environment.) Our products go a long way in protecting the packaging used whether it is glass, PET or aluminum. Because of this, we were invited to join a study to understand the impact of pressure and friction on the lifespan of recycled glass bottles with a highly respected Spanish testing facility and a long established European brewery.

Through a competitive application, the Masitek project received the prestigious EUREKA designation, being one of a handful in Canada to do so. (EUREKA is an international network for market-driven industrial R&D that includes over 40 countries.)  This is a huge project for us to be associated with and we’re excited to release preliminary findings to attendees at Drinktec.

Giving results, not numbers

We know what our clients are looking for when using our sensors. They want to know where they have issues in their filling lines. Issues could be high impact areas, high pressure areas, high rotation, inconsistent vertical force being applied to the caps of the bottles or in the seamer machine or even high friction/scuff.

So, if we know what they are looking for, why don’t just giving them the answers? This is exactly what we have done with our Line Intelligence Visualization module. Clients can see in a web based dashboard (also available through an App) the exact location of this problematic areas. No more need to look at multiple reports or to do extensive data analysis, our Line Intelligence Visualization module does it for you. Open the module and see in red where the problematic areas are.

Supplier or partner?

As a supplier, the fact that our sensor products are helping to optimize filling lines in many of the largest breweries and wineries throughout the world validates our sensor solutions.

As a partner, our value lies in the results we present and the data that we’re gathering and parsing through with research institutes, universities and our clients who are industry leaders. We’re building on our joint understanding of how materials behave and respond to variables in processing. It’s exciting to be a larger partner to industry as it becomes increasingly sophisticated through technology and knowledge.

We’ve recently partnered with the prestigious Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences in Germany that graduates Brew Masters and Industry Leaders through their Engineering program for Beer and Beverage. For the 2017-18 semester and on an ongoing basis, our product line will be part of an internship program of study with a Bachelor thesis about our sensor readings of and the optimization potential.