Financial savings combined with ensured consistent and accurate labelling were the chief drivers for the Türk Tuborg* filling operation in Izmir, Turkey installing new can and bottle drying systems. The drying systems were installed as retrofit units to replace compressed air jets and heated tunnels, and are reported to be achieving significant savings whilst also helping to avoid the problem of label slippage resulting from inefficiently dried bottles.
The can and bottle drying machines are from Air Control Industries (ACI) and were supplied by the company’s Turkish distributor, Yük. Müh. Nihat Kagnici, Sanayi Müsavirligi ve Mümessilligi. The principal reason for the substantial cost savings is the fact the ACI units are all blower powered, a more cost-effective and cleaner way of delivering air for drying bottles and cans.
Prior to opting for the ACI systems, Packaging Engineers Arda Sengöz and Mehmet Kaynak at the Türk Tuborg plant investigated a number of different suppliers. However, a combination of good references from existing customers, competitive pricing and the easy self-installation/running maintenance persuaded them that ACI offered the best solution for the company’s needs. Also, with a local distributor they were confident of professional back-up if required.
Five ACI drying systems are installed, three of which are fully enclosed. Two of the fully enclosed units are installed on canning lines and incorporate ACI’s purpose-engineered ‘CanTunnels’ with Airknives, whilst the third is employed for bottle drying and is equipped with ACI’s ‘JetPlate’ system plus a pair of Airknives. The open units are EL (blower at Eye Level) packages and are CanTunnel systems.
The CanTunnel systems are installed in pairs with dryers located before and after can ‘twisters’ which invert cans so that both top and bottom are dried. Throughput for each of the two parallel lines is 40,000 cans/hr (either 33 or 50cl).
The bottle drying line has a capacity of 60,000 bottles/hr and the ACI dryer must cope with up to 14 different shapes/sizes of bottle, drying neck, cap and bottle in one pass.
“The ACI drying systems are working very well and the support has been excellent, both from ACI and Nihat Kagnici,” said Arda Sengöz, Packaging Engineer. “What’s more, we are saving money. The compressed air systems and heating tunnel were much more expensive to run and maintain so we expect a rapid payback on our investment.”