BURTS Snacks has completed one of the company’s single largest investments, with the installation of a complete end of line pack handling and Alvey palletisation solution from Scott.
Producing a range of bag sizes and multipacks in regular cases, display packs and SRP cases, Burts needed to increase line efficiencies, reduce manual handling and internal pallet movements, and raise pallet stack quality in the supply chain.
Scott said the project objective was to provide a palletising solution for the ‘rapidly filling’ Roborough site, with a phased installation, without disrupting production. The solution needed to enable access to each line for operators and packaging materials whilst minimising transport distance of unwrapped pallet loads.
Eight production lines producing up to 2,400 cases per hour are linked to the system, with future expansion for two more lines predicted. The solution handles various case sizes, empty pallet types, and stacking patterns delivering an output up to 40 pallets per hour.
Cases are collected from each production line, merged onto transport conveyors and delivered to a central sortation, buffering and palletisation area based on the Alvey multi-line principle.
The correct empty pallet is dispensed for the Alvey palletiser to build each SKU at four layers per minute. Completed pallet stacks are then wrapped, labelled and delivered to the on-site warehouse.
Stuart Watkins, Burts Snacks’ operations manager, said, “After many months of careful consideration, looking at robots and layer solutions, we felt the Scott offering gave us what we needed. Once the final design was completed, the Burts Snacks’ on-site team worked closely and collaboratively with the Scott project and installation team. The successful end result was achieved with the complete buy-in from the Burts Snacks’ operational team with a significant uplift in output and reduced supermarket returns.”
