Prazdroj managed to mark 730,000 pallets in 4 months and increase productivity by 30%

ABOUT THE CUSTOMER

Plzeňský Prazdroj, a legend among Czech breweries, needs no introduction. It produces around 11 million hectolitres of beer annually and exports to more than 50 countries around the world. It is the largest producer and exporter of Czech beer. In addition to the world-famous Pilsner lager, it also produces various types of Gambrinus beer, including fruit radlers, ciders under the Frisco and Kingswood brands, non-alcoholic Birell beer, Master beer specials, and the Kozel and Radegast brands at its breweries in Veľké Popovice and Nošovice.

SITUATION BEFORE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF OUR SERVICES

Our sister company KODYS, spol. s. r. o. provides service support and supplies of consumables for the applicators. In this context, a new requirement has arisen for the supply of a more economically friendly solution for the automatic application of labels on pallets. Based on the experience from the operation, there was also a requirement for the possibility of visual control of the production data printed on the bottom of the cans by the operator via a camera system.

After the analysis, the Czech KODYS proposed its own solution, which consists of hardware equipment - K.label applicator adapted to the customer's requirements. The project also includes a custom application and related services including implementation, configuration, operator training and connection to the customer's information system.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

To design and deliver an economically sustainable solution with high mechanical reliability and long service life to replace current applicators. Ensure availability of service support and spare parts. To integrate the system with the parent SAP ERP. The objective was also to speed up pallet labelling and simplify machine operation with a more user-friendly environment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLUTION

The core of the entire project is the K.applicator 170T3. The server application is the main control component that ensures the two-way communication of the application machines with the higher-level SAP information system. This software solution completely replaced the existing communication interface with the existing application systems.

The robust construction of the applicator was designed with an emphasis on trouble-free operation. Standard components from renowned manufacturers (FESTO, Siemens) were chosen for its construction, guaranteeing availability of spare parts and trouble-free service. The machine's function is provided by a Siemens 1500 series PLC control system with communication to an OPC server that shares data with a panel PC, the applicator's user interface. This touch panel allows workers to easily operate and maintain the machine and provides clear information about the applicator's operation.

BENEFITS

• Availability of spare parts
• Service availability
• Simplification of operation
• Simplification of maintenance
• Ensuring the possibility of developing the server application and exchanging data with other systems
• Openness of the applicator control system
• Support for pallet traceability using SSCC codes

RESULT THROUGH THE EYES OF THE CUSTOMER

"Despite the initial difficulties with our company's custom-built solution, we were able to fine-tune the functionality of the applicator and the associated server application into a functional unit that meets our original expectations and promises to replace the existing outdated pallet label applicators in the future."

"The change to the server application for processing pallet data from all the bottling lines of all our Czech-Slovak breweries was made just in time to support the development of other logistics applications for automating warehouse management and logistics operations, which have recently been increasingly developed and applied in our company as well."

Ondřej Sýkora
Head of Automation, Prazdroj, a. s.