In this new series, our Business Strategy Manager will take you through ways you can up your production strategy with various pieces of container handling equipment. The first edition below addresses wine production.
We all know wine consumption has increased due to COVID-19 and other market shifts, and the industry is still feeling the aftereffects of this increased demand. Part of this is due to general uptick in alcohol consumption during the pandemic (also known as Zoom Happy Hours) and partly because so many more brands (we’re looking at you, Cannabis-infused wine) have popped up in the marketplace.
It’s been reported that as we come out of the pandemic, consumption will increase even more with a bigger return to wining and dining and multiple studies showed overall alcohol consumption increase of 2% in 2020. For 2022, the same predictions of rises in consumption continue as Americans come in and out of isolation.
As you can see, this is a topic we travel around the country to discuss with wineries – A LOT.
How can I increase my production while not increasing my overhead?
It’s not so simple. Many wineries have limited funds, space constraints, or a growing number of SKUs. Not to mention wineries are being hit with the same labor shortages and workforce limitations that everyone else is.
However, do not fear. There are so many steps wineries can take to make changes to their production lines that increase output and reduce labor costs, especially since finding labor is becoming increasingly difficult in manufacturing and production. Best yet, many of these are price-conscious options.
Let’s discuss some of the items that production can be looking at to improve capacity and reduce overall labor costs.
1. Evaluate Current Change Parts
Every winery needs to be looking at their change parts, stars and guides, whatever they want to call them. These are one of the most essential parts of the filling, corking, foiling, and labeling processes.
You should be working with change parts manufacturers that are electronically measuring the machines on your line, so the parts are 100% precise and the bottle is completely stable and doesn’t move. This is going to eliminate breakage that becomes costly and causes downtime.
And, if possible, you should be looking at how these change parts can reduce changeover time. The world of growing SKUs is affecting the amount of change parts people need to keep since each bottle can be just a little bit different.
Change parts from Morrison provide wineries a great deal of flexibility and an edge needed to increase that output. We provide OEM style change parts for all machine manufacturers, as well as quick change parts. If your line can benefit from quick change parts, you’ll even reduce the amount of personnel needed to change over a line.
Our goal is always the most efficient and accurate filling, or whatever the application may be. See how they are made here: Watch Video. Download the complete guide to our Change Parts here.
2. Air Rinsing
Wineries also need to be looking at automation before the fill process. High speed air rinsers and water rinsers for bottles can drastically improve efficiency and the time it takes to get that bottle ready for production. Here’s a video that’s an oldie but a goodie.
I love this video because you can see how the screw and twist combination really keeps these bottles stable. I’m always amazed we can do this without any breakage.
Container handling isn’t limited to change parts and rinsers – or even bottles.
3. Working with Form Fill Sealing Machines
More and more vendors are moving to boxed wine models and Morrison has created many systems to automate the bag drop process into the moving box. We’ve automated placing empty boxes under the form fill sealing system, so these full, sealed bags drop directly into the boxes. Learn more: View Case Study Video.
4. Automate the Metering, Combining, and Dividing of Wine Bottles
Many parts of the wine production process require a constant flow of bottles. Where bottles are not present, they cannot be completed for sale. This is where timing screw drive units can greatly impact production. We automate processes like combining and dividing bottles all the time.
Where one might think this can’t be done with glass bottles, the timing screw disagrees. By positively controlling the container safely, we eliminate glass breakage often done by operators since there is no need for an operator to manual perform these tasks. See a variety of applications here: Watch Videos.
Think of the areas on your line where an operator is moving a container, and in those areas there is an opportunity for Morrison to add a small-footprint system to automate it.
Often, these solutions have quick ROI and can immediately solve your workforce constraints.
If you have a line to evaluate, fill out this form. Our team will come in (for free) and look at areas where container handling can increase your production and combat constraints.
You ask, we answer. Have other questions about how container handling equipment can increase your production? Email us and we just might address it in our next blog.
