A leading dairy producer in Mexico needed to increase output without overhauling its entire filling line. The solution came from upgrading just one element: the bottle unscrambler. This single change boosted efficiency from 85% to 98.5%, adding more than 77,000 bottles per week.
Continue reading to see how one small upgrade transformed an entire line.
Since its opening in 1995, the factory of a major dairy manufacturer has continued to evolve technologically to meet the growing demand for its products.
Located in Mexico, this plant produces as much as seven of the company’s European plants combined.
By investing in training human capital to maximize the added value of their capabilities, and in technology that can transform filling line processes entirely.
In other words, letting skilled staff handle value-added tasks, and machines manage automated operations.
That’s why, when the goal was to increase the line’s output with the lowest possible investment, the engineering team at this dairy producer had no doubts in choosing POSIMAT technology.
Replacing only the bottle feeding system
Far from being seen as a secondary piece of equipment, and after an in-depth analysis of the weak points of each machine in their 1994-installed line, it became clear that improving the bottle feeding system was key to increasing the line’s OEE.
By replacing only the feeding system (bottle unscrambler) with a POSIMAT POSIFLEX unscrambler with automatic format change – and keeping the rest of the line as originally installed (18 years ago) – the production output increased significantly.
The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) calculations clearly showed that by switching to POSIMAT, feeding system efficiency increased from 85% to 98.5%, achieving 98% global line efficiency!
This translated into an additional 77,000 bottles produced per week using the same packaging line – resulting in a very short return on investment (ROI).
Want an ROI calculator? Contact POSIMAT.
The POSIFLEX bottle unscrambler with automatic format change met all of the customer's key requirements.
OEE analysis confirmed the jump from 85% to 98.5% equipment availability, and 98% total line efficiency.
This change alone increased weekly bottle output by 77,000 units.
- Year of existing line installation: 1994
- Bottle sizes: from 150g to 900g
- Filling speeds: up to 12,000 bph
- Product: dairy-based product, lactic beverage
- Bottle types: transparent PET, HDPE
Non-Negotiable Requirements | With 9 bottle formats in the project, the dairy customer had clear priorities from the beginning:
- No modifications to the rest of the existing packaging line (from filler to end-of-line).
- Minimal or zero format changeover time (as multiple changes occur weekly).
- Equipment autonomy without operator intervention.
- Minimal or near-zero maintenance (since the line cannot afford downtimes due to high production demand).
Thanks to the significant increase in weekly bottle production, the investment in the POSIMAT equipment achieved a rapid ROI.
Simply replacing the feeding system (bottle unscrambler) while keeping the rest of the line untouched from its original installation (18 years ago) led to a substantial performance boost.
Want to see how your ROI could improve? Contact POSIMAT.
Far from being a secondary component, an in-depth analysis of each machine in this 1994 packaging line revealed that the key to increasing Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) was optimizing the bottle feeding system.
The integration of the POSIMAT unscrambler with automatic format change was essential to achieving this goal and significantly improving the performance of the entire production line.
Considering a POSIMAT machine as an “expense” rather than a strategic investment only happens when you haven't yet experienced its long-term value and performance.