RODNEY STRONG WINES GOING INTO TAPERED BOTTLES |
| Wine | Quantity (cases) |
IN 2008: |
| Alexander's Crown Cabernet Sauvignon | 2,850 |
| Alden Cabernet Sauvignon | 600 |
| Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon | 11,500 |
| Sonoma County Merlot | 40,000 |
| Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon | 41,000 |
IN 2009: |
| Knotty Vines Zinfandel | 18,000 |
Small quantities of Sonoma County
Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, and
Symmetry Red Meritage blend, are packaged
in heavyweight tapered bottles. |
Garvey's multi-lane Infinity table
eliminates the need for additional
operators in that area. "There are
other ways to feed a case packer,"
notes Tony Palandrani (Garvey Pacific
sales director). "Why spend money on
a laner and an accumulation table
when the Garvey Infinity can do them
both for a fraction of the cost?"
Changeover between different bottle
styles was another concern. Each
Infinity table can be reconfigured for
another size in less than five minutes
with 100% repeatability. Changeover
adjustment on the first two Infinity
tables is done by loosening a series of
hand knobs and moving a plastic guide into
position using a bottle as a
guide. No tools are required and the
design is flexible enough to accommodate
future bottle shapes within a
predefined range determined at the start
of the project.
Changeover for the third Garvey
table, which divides bottles into three
lanes for the case packer, is accomplished
by loosening hand knobs and sliding stainless
steel dividers into positions marked on an overhead
channel.
Pack stations are also incorporated into
the design of the second and third
Garvey Infinity tables, allowing for manual loading
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The third accumulation table collates bottles into three lanes to feed the casepacker without
backpressure, an important advantage to running tapered bottles. It also has the added
benefit of additional accumulation (600 bottles) to protect the rest of the bottling line against
downtime on the casepacker.
|
or unloading of bottles
during quality assurance tests,
unlabeled "shiner" runs, or handpacking.
Rodney Strong Vineyards uses the three Garvey
Infinity accumulation tables to
safely accumulate tapered bottles, but also
|
was able to shorten
the overall length of the bottling line,
eliminate the need for a additional
laning device, and make hand-packing
easier.
[For more information on accumulators, please visit the Garvey Corporation website.]
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By J. Scott Gerien
From May/June 2008
By Kimberly Nicholas Cahill, and Christopher B. Field
Stanford University and Carnegie Institution for Science
From March/April 2008
By Tina Vierra
From January/February 2008
By Henry Work
From November/December 2007
By Nicolas Cantacuzene
From September/October 2007
By Skye Hallberg & Ron Woloshun
From July/August 2007