Automated Palletizing Gives Cristalia a Clear Advantage The Caribbean’s leading bottled water company receives six-month ROI with entry-level GS palletizer from FKI Logistex

uerto Rico-based Cristalia Premium Water thrives on the The one-gallon- line was the most difficult to palletize booming Caribbean tourist trade and the region’s need manually, with its unstable, 27-pound cases forcing Pfor clean, safe water. A popular namesake brand and employees to take frequent breaks. Four employees worked successful private- bottling division have helped boost in an hourly rotation on this line, while the 16-ounce- the company’s revenue, which is up 400 percent since 1999. and multi-pack lines only required one worker each. Recently, high labor costs and inefficiencies in packaging Terrell also noted that the one-gallon were the plant’s operations were making it increasingly difficult to meet demand highest producer — filling a every two and a half while maintaining profits. The company commissioned director minutes. The team calculated that automating this line of manufacturing operations Tom Terrell to evaluate automated would give them the greatest benefits in terms of labor palletizing solutions that could help manage the rapid growth. savings and increased efficiency.

Automation is the Answer FKI Logistex Provides a Solution Cristalia’s Ponce, Puerto Rico bottling plant manually Cristalia’s cramped warehouse did not have the space for palletizes four lines of bottled water — shrink-wrapped trays the accumulation conveyor required for a standard high- of 16-ounce , multi-packs, five-gallon cooler bottles speed palletizer. The company turned to automated material and one-gallon jugs. However, Terrell and his team knew handling solutions provider FKI Logistex and its GS100 series that the 20,000-square-foot facility only had the space to palletizer for an affordable way to automate its line within automate one line. the space constraints of the warehouse. The compact footprint

For more information, please contact FKI Logistex by phone at +1 877 935 4564 or by e-mail at [email protected]. entry-level palletizer

of the GS100 series eliminates the need for a long infeed conveyor and allows fork truck access to all points of the facility, including incoming materials, warehousing, production discharge and outgoing product — without intruding on personnel. Working with FKI Logistex and Puerto Rico-based packaging equipment representative Inter-Strap Packaging, Cristalia chose the GS140 model, which features a pallet dispenser and a full-pallet handling discharge for complete automation. The GS140 gives Cristalia the ability to palletize at rates of up to 30 per minute and includes a touch-screen operator-interface terminal (OIT) pattern utility.

Conveyor brings cases from the one-gallon-jug production line to the infeed of the FKI Logistex A Six-Month ROI GS140 palletizer. The FKI Logistex GS140 system has enabled Cristalia to reduce labor costs and heavy lifting, while producing an extra 1,000 cases every shift, for a capital investment of less than $100,000. The GS140 palletizer also fits completely inside a standard 40-foot shipping A Fully Automated Solution , which saved the company approximately $14,000 on overseas shipping costs alone. In Cristalia’s new system, “With the new FKI Logistex palletizing an existing line shaft roller system we reduced labor costs by 25 conveyor brings cases from the percent and increased our total volume one-gallon-jug production line by 20 percent,” said Terrell. “The most to the infeed of the GS140. The important gain came from continuous palletizer forms 16-case layers, uptime and uninterrupted shifts — now with each case containing three the line never stops.” one-gallon jugs. According to Terrell, Cristalia experienced The GS140 then builds the a six-month ROI with the new palletizer. load on the chain conveyor, “For the same overhead costs, we’re with either three or four layers getting more cases out the door,” he said. The GS140 includes a touch-screen operator-interface terminal (OIT) pattern utility. depending on the customer The company’s President and CEO David specifications. When the load Virginia could not be happier with the service and support provided by FKI Logistex. “They is complete, it is automatically really stepped up and ensured that we met our goal of 97-percent uptime on the machine discharged from the load-build following startup,” he said. “To us, this was the difference between FKI Logistex being an cavity and an empty pallet is equipment manufacturer and a business partner.” conveyed into position. With the new palletizing system, the local bottler is well on its way to meeting its goal The GS140 completely of becoming a $100 million bottled water marketer to the Caribbean and the U.S. in the automates the line with a next 10 years. 10-pallet capacity lift-and- separate pallet dispenser, using Puerto Rico’s First Totally Integrated Bottling Plant 40- by 48-inch wooden . In order to maintain growth, Cristalia is opening a new plant in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Empty pallets are loaded by near the San Juan airport. Four times larger than the Ponce plant, the new facility will be fork truck into the empty pallet the first totally vertically integrated bottling plant on the island. To accomplish this, the dispenser, which automatically company plans to invest $12 million in water processing, bottling and bottle manufacturing feeds another pallet to the pre- equipment. With its own trucking company, Expert Trucking, Cristalia will handle stage position for the next load. everything from bottle manufacturing to final product delivery.

For more information, please contact FKI Logistex by phone at +1 877 935 4564 or by e-mail at [email protected].