Your Mates craft brewery has installed Fibre King's Little Depal, a depalletising solution designed to automatically unload cans from pallets and feed them smoothly into the production line.
This follows a previous installation in 2021, Fibre King, end of line automation manufacturer in Australia, collaborated with Your Mates Brewery to address its packaging bottleneck. Fibre King's solution involved automating Your Mates Brewery's end of line clip application and case packing processes, resulting in increased efficiency and smoother operations.
“How good is it to be back at Your Mates? Just two years after installing a little packer and can carrier applicator, they've now tripled their throughput by replacing their filler and we've now added a small automatic depalletiser,” said James Windsor, CEO of Fibre King.
“We've just added a Little Depal to the system and it has revolutionised the way that the canning line is operating and that the canning line team is operating. Our team are able to now focus on the more important tasks including quality assurance and making sure that the cartons are all looking schmick before they get palletised instead of lifting cans into the filler,” said Christen McGarry, head of production and director of Your Mates Brewing.
According to Fibre King, the 'Little Depal' is a compact, reliable depalletising solution that is specifically designed to cater to the needs of the craft brewery and beverage industry. The Little Depal is engineered to automatically unload cans from pallets and feed them into the production line, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted process.
Made out of stainless steel, the company says its depalletisers are designed for use in 24 hour per day production environments, for a serviceable life of 15 years, adding that changeovers are quick and repeatable with typical change over times of less than 2 minutes. It also says the machine is electrically interlocked to AS4024.1 or equivalent international standard.
“At Fibre King, we really love building quality machinery that helps our clients get their products to market. It's amazing to see the growth that your mates have gone through and it's just really rewarding to be a key link in the production line that gets their products to market,” added Windsor.
“We've been running Fibre King equipment now for over two years and in that time, the equipment has not skipped a beat. I'd have no hesitation in recommending Fibre King for other breweries because an investment in Fibre King is an investment in the quality of the liquid that is going out to your consumers,” concluded McGarry.
Craft breweries looking to improve their production processes and gain a competitive edge in the market should strongly consider automating their end-of-line production processes. The benefits of automation are clear - increased efficiency, improved product quality, reduced labour costs, and enhanced workplace safety. By implementing automation solutions such as Fibre King's Little Depal, craft breweries can streamline their operations and focus on the aspects of the business that matter most, such as recipe development, quality control, and customer service.
