News

New Swing-Top Opening Machine and Swing-Top Closing Machine for the Rieder Brewery!

In 2003 AMS delivered a 16-position swing-top closing to machine to the Ried brewery in Austria. Since then, the machine has reliably processed millions of swing-top bottles. A credit to the excellent maintenance over the years, using predominantly AMS replacement parts and upgrades.
Product quality standards at the brewery are first and foremost and played a major role in the decision to build a new bottling line. Helping in ensure that these high standards can continue to be meet in the future.
Negotiations for the new production line, with a rated capacity of 16,000 bottles per hour, started in spring 2023. We were invited by managing director and master brewer Josef Niklas to present our “state-of-the-art” 20-position opening and our 24-position closing machines. Both machines have fully automated cleaning systems and the closing machine takes full advantage of the AMS hygienic design concept.

Production at Kulmbacher Brewery tops 132.000 bottles per hour!

The success of the Kulmbacher brewery and AMS Getränketechnik have been closely linked for more than 20 years. During this time, we have had the privilege to deliver nine closing and four opening machines. Each one helping meet the increasing demand.
From the thirteen machines that have been built over the years, 9 are still in operation at Kulmbach and the two BVM30 machines built in 2001 are now in operation at the Würzburger brewery in Würzburg.
In 2014 a new production line was put into operation with a capacity of 30,000 bottles per hour. However, after a short period of time, the new line was already at capacity and in 2017 production capacity was further increased with an additional line capable of 50,000 bottles per hour. The new line included two 40-position swing-top closing machines and a 10-position opening machine.
During the corona pandemic, due to the restrictions placed on the food service industry, sales increased dramatically and pushed both lines to their limits once again. In 2021 the decision was made to expand the existing site. With the catchy name “B52”, an additional swing-top production line with a capacity of 52,000 bottles per hour was built. Increasing the total capacity at the Kulmbacher brewery to 132,000 bottles per hour. That means that every hour, 6600 crates or to put it another way, 165 pallets of beer are transported to their warehouse ready to be sold on. We are extremely proud to be a small part of this extraordinary output. This drive to increase efficiency and output has also helped us over the years to improve the output of our machines. An example of this is our 20-postion opening machine which was recently commissioned at the brewery.
It's not just output that is important in Kulmbach, hygiene is also a top priority. Over the years, in combination with brewery’s laboratory, AMS have strived to improve upon the design of the machine’s cleaning systems and the cleanability of machine parts. Regular spray-shadow-tests were carried out during commissioning and helped guide future developments in the machines.

It's not just beer in swing-top bottles!

Alain Brugalières, recognized that agriculture had to change in order to remain sustainable. In 1983 he founded the French food manufacturer Vitamont, based on the simple idea of locally sourced, organic fruit juices. Initially demand was low, but in the 1990’s the first EU regulations on organic farming were introduced and with a few food scandals along the way demand started to increase.
Today Vitamont offer over 130 different fruit juices, including a range of soft drinks in swing-top bottles. Until recently all Swing-top products were mounted and closed by hand, a rather labour-intensive task. The management at Vitamont decided to invest in automating the process and spring 2021 placed an order with AMS for a fully automated swing-top sorting & mounting machine, and a fully automated swing-top closing machine. Both machines operate with a nominal output of 2,250 bottles per hour.

From a successful beer seller in the 1930's to a traditional Belgian beer brewery in 2020's!

The history of the Caulier brewery begins in the interwar period with Charles Caulier, who was an industrious beer seller in the south of Belgium. With the help of his family, he expanded the business to a considerable size over the following decades. In the early 1990s, the Caulier family decided to brew and market their own beer, a bespoke high fermentation blonde. The beer was named Bon Secours after the small village were Charles Caulier first started selling beer.
In the preceding years Brassiere Caulier have extensively expanded their range and bottle almost exclusively in swing-top bottles. Due to increasing demand and the age of their existing closing machine, the decision was taken in 2022 to purchase a new BV24 swing-top closing machine from AMS. The decisive factors in the decision were; the hygienic design, closing rate, AMS service, and production reliability. In addition to the sloped, electro-polished “ARCH” machine table, the new machine is also fitted with hygienic design format parts and new “open” closing elements with improved cleanability. All three features are now standard on AMS swing-top closing machines.

Birra Amarcord invest in increased capacity and full automation for swing-top mounting and closing!

Back In 2008, AMS/KOSME commissioned a rinser-filler-multicapper block, at the then up-and-coming brewery Birra Amarcord in Italy. In 2022 due to an increasing demand for swing-top beer, and after 13 years of reliable service, the decision was taken to invest in the existing production line and increase capacity to around 9,000 bottles per hour. To achieve this, a new AMS swing-top closing machine and two fully automated swing-top sorting and mounting machines were purchased.
The new 12 position swing-top closing machine has a rated nominal capacity of 9,000 bottles per hour. The swing-top sorting and mounting machines were specially developed for the Amarcord project. In an AMS first, two swing-top sorting machines were combined with one “double” mounting machine (you can find out more about this new development on page 17), achieving a rated nominal capacity of 4,500 bottles per hour per machine group.

ALLGÄUER BREWERY STARTS UP THE NEW FILLING LINE WITH AMS-MACHINES
AND IS UPGRADING THEIR EXISTING LINE WITH AMS!

A BV40 closing machine with 40 closing heads and a RBÖ10 rotary opener with 10 opening positions have been running there for 13 years to their complete satisfaction. Since the sales of swing-top bottles have increased significantly in recent years, the management of the Radeberger Group decided on a new bottling line with a line capacity of 25,000 bottles per hour for the brewery location in Marktoberndorf. The new swing stopper filling line contains a new swing stopper closing machine with 40 closing heads and a newly developed rotary opener with 20 opening positions. The topic of „stopper head and rubber seal inspection“ is very important for the Allgäuer Brewery. A corresponding solution should not be missing in the new filling line. That’s why a newly developed DGI40 inspection machine with 40 heads, which inspects the swing stopper heads and rubber seal, raises bottling to a safer standard. These 3 machines were delivered in spring 2021 and successfully commissioned in the new bottling line.

The existing AMS swing stopper machine of the older generation will be completely upgraded mechanically and electrically to a current standard for the next few years. Also the hygienic standard will be raised again. We would like to thank the Allgäuer Brewery and the Radeberger Group again for their trust.

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