Robinsons factory tour From empty bottle to pallet in 15 minutes

Transcription

1 Robinsons factory tour From empty bottle to pallet in 15 minutes

2 Welcome to the world s biggest squash factory Originally the home of an 11th century Benedictine monastery, this location houses two Robinsons factories, one making our squash products and one making Fruit Shoot. Overall, around 290 people are employed here. This guide provides a summary of the processes and equipment you will see on the factory floor, and you will find an overview of our tour on the back cover.

3 The production process Mixing the drinks Pasteurisation Ingredients Mixing and blending 2 Filling and packing 3 Packaging 4 Rinsing, filling and capping 5 Labelling Palletising and shipping Multipacking Quality inspection and coding

4 Did you know? Our mixing and blending operation is one of the most complex in the UK and produces on average one batch of concentrate per hour.

5 Mixing the drinks 1 Dry ingredients such as barley starch, sugar and sweeteners are carefully measured, mixed and combined in large blending tanks with juice, which is delivered in bulk, and water, which we extract from our own bore holes. Depending on the recipe (we produce over 60 different variants), these ingredients may also be mixed with stronger flavours, such as pink grapefruit and pomegranate. Each production line is fed by two blending tanks, enabling it to run continuously. As one tank is emptied, another is being prepared, and our factory operates 24 hours per day, five and a half days a week. The blended syrup is homogenised under high pressure to stop particles of fruit from settling in the finished product, and then flash pasteurised to destroy any naturally occurring bacteria or mould. This involves heating the liquid to approximately 95 degrees centigrade for 15 seconds and then immediately cooling it.

6 Did you know? There are four production lines in our squash factory, producing approx 27 million cases of squash in total per year.

7 Filling and packing The production line is where the bottles of squash you see in the shops are assembled. 2 Precision and accuracy are vital to their smooth production, and our technicians are on hand in case of problems. A traffic light system is used to indicate how the machines are running: if you see a red light the machine has stopped and the operator may require the assistance of a technician. The length of our production lines (approx 2,180 metres in total) prevents bottles from building up and delaying the production process in the event of a brief stoppage.

8 Did you know? Each bottle is tested to ensure it is the correct weight and strength. Our 1 litre packs must be strong enough to withstand lbs of pressure applied from the top.

9 Packaging PET is the only type of packaging used at this site although Britvic, our parent company, uses cans and glass bottles at other locations. We have six blow moulding machines and produce all our plastic bottles from small custom-made preforms that look like test tubes. With a combined output of over 80,000 bottles per hour, three machines produce our larger 2, 3 and 4 litre packs, while the other three produce our 1 litre packs. 3 The preforms pass through an oven which heats them to 180 degrees centigrade. They are then transferred into moulds and compressed air is used to blow the bottles to the shape of the moulds at a pressure of 400 psi.

10 Did you know? We do not use artificial colour or flavours in any of our drinks.

11 Filling and capping Empty bottles are inverted, clamped into position and rinsed with purified water before being turned back up the right way and filled to the correct level. The bottles are filled gradually as the filling machine rotates, so that the bottle is filled to the correct level at exactly the moment it is capped and carried off on a conveyor belt for labelling. 4 The fillers run at between 100 and 350 bottles per minute depending on their size.

12 Did you know? Our labelling machines collect and reuse excess glue so that none is wasted.

13 Labelling The labeller has a maximum speed of 21,000 bottles per hour, and can label any size bottle from 1 litre to 4 litres. Labelling of food and drink products is highly regulated and all Britvic products are labelled in compliance with legislation and supplementary codes of practice. We include the product name and description, ingredients, nutrition information panel and guideline daily amounts. 5

14 Did you know? All our products are printed with a best-before code that also details its date, time and line of manufacture.

15 Quality inspection and coding Our production process is subject to rigorous quality checks at every stage. Every hour, samples from each batch of syrup are tested in our lab, where our experts carefully examine their taste, appearance, sugar and ph levels to ensure all our drinks conform to Britvic s high quality standards and regulations. We retain every sample for reference, enabling us to double-check for shelf life and identify any problems that may occur. Bottles are also visually checked at our quality stations, where our technicians ensure they are filled to the correct level and that the closures, labels and barcodes have been applied correctly. Results are recorded and saved for six years. 6

16 Did you know? We send zero waste to landfill.

17 Multi-packing Filled bottles are either shrink-wrapped, boxed or robotically palletised depending on the size, weight and destination of the finished packs. Smaller packs are shrink-wrapped. The packing machine covers them loosely with film before passing them through the heat tunnel, which heats them to a temperature of approx 170 degrees centigrade for 10 seconds. The heat causes the plastic to weld together and shrink tightly around the product, giving the pack its strength and rigidity. Alternatively, flat-pack cardboard cartons are wrapped around the bottles and sealed mechanically. All our cardboard packaging is made entirely from recycled materials or material derived from sustainable sources. 7

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19 Palletising and shipping The palletiser is programmed to configure the cases so that the maximum number can be loaded onto each pallet. Once full, the pallets are stretch-wrapped to ensure they are stable for transport. The film wrap is pre-stretched by at least 200% so that less can be used and what is used will not stretch any more on the pallet. On an average day we send out 90 lorries. Our factory can produce as many as 80,000 bottles of product an hour. 8

20 1 Mixing the drinks 2 Filling and packing 3 Packaging 4 Filling and capping 5 Labelling 6 7 Quality inspection and coding Multi-packing 3 Packaging is not shown on this plan as our blow moulding equipment is on a different level. 8 8 Palletising and shipping PRODUCTION AREA 2 If you want to learn more, check out the Britvic Learning Zone online at 100%