 Learn more »» Article |  Empty-bottle handling is no picnic
The lightest of the PET bottles filled on Pepsi's new line
weighs just 27.5 g. Controlling these empty containers at high
speeds is difficult to say the least. Print Reprint  "This is a
very new bottle" says Pepsi-Cola Co.'s Winston-Salem plant
manager Matthew Bucherati in describing the 20-oz PET Fast Break
bottle. "We're still learning how to handle it." Nowhere are the
lessons more critical than in the area of empty-bottle handling
especially depalletizing and single-filing. Simplimatic
Engineering (Lynchburg VA) supplied the equipment that performs
both tasks as well as the air conveying system that follows.(For
a look at how the bottles are filled see Packaging World
December '94 p. 18.) The photos included here reflect the fact
that on the day Packaging World toured Pepsi's Winston-Salem
plant 2-L bottles of Mountain Dew were in production. The 20-oz
Fast Break bottle is handled by the same equipment in just the
same way. The scary part doesn