Tomlinson's Dairy Chose Ektam Flowmatic Fillers For Milk

As part of a multi million £ investment programme, Ektam was chosen to manufacture and supply 2 new fully automated milk filling lines capable of filling 68,000 litres of milk/hour. They have just arrived to the UK with a planned installation and commissioning starting in September.

Wrexham, UK(PRWEB UK)  Established in 1983 by brothers Philip and John Tomlinson, Tomlinson’s Dairies is Wales’ largest liquid milk processor following significant growth over the past years. Having recently secured a contract with a supermarket giant, Tomlinson’s are investing into the future.

As part of the investment programme Ektam was chosen to manufacture and supply 2 new fully automated milk filling lines capable of filling 68,000 litres of milk/hour. Each one of the 2 new lines is capable of filling 6 different bottle formats from 189 ml up to 6 pint bottle. They have just arrived to the UK with a planned installation and commissioning starting in September.

Ektam was established in 1977 to produce turnkey bottling plants for dairy, beverages and drinks sectors and has become an important player in this field having successfully completed dozens of turnkey projects around the globe filling into PET, HDPE, Glass, Can and Tin containers for still and carbonated liquids

Ektam’s manufacturing capabilities include Complete Bottling Lines, Filling and Capping Machines, Combi System Blowing and Filling Machines, Mixing and Carbonating Units, Bottle Cleaning Units, Labelling Machines, Pasteurizing-Warming & Cooling Tunnels, Carton Packing and Uncasing Machines, Palletizing and Depalletizing Machines and Conveyor Systems.

Philip Tomlinson said “We visited Ektam at their production plant and were very impressed with their quality, manufacturing, level of engineering and their experience in turnkey filling lines. Prior to our investment, we did a thorough research of suppliers and equipment. Ektam offered us the most flexible solution, excellent quality and most competitive prices in the market.”

The supply scope of Ektam starts with each filling line being fed through the blow moulding facility through an Ektam elevator/twister unit equipped with auto conveyor adjustment for each bottle type for instant format change over by accepting the containers from the empty bottle conveyor into Ektam’s “MEGAROLL” OPP wrap around labelling machine, which is equipped with two reel-fed label feed stations. Megaroll incorporates a totally new concept in roll-fed labelling technology allowing change over within minutes with a patented all in one blade and apply technology incorporated in a single drum applicator and a glue jet applicator reducing downtime, adjustment time, misalignment and eliminates glue spillage capable of reaching capacities upto 40,000 bottles/hour.

The bottles than accumulate on Ektam’s space saving tandem accumulation conveyor systems before entering the “FLOWMATIC” filling and capping clean room machine with auto height adjustment for quick format change over. Each filling head measures the liquid volume with electromagnetic flowmeters precisely and hygienically. The main advantage of this technique is the hygienic non-contact filling with high accuracy flowmeters on each filling head allowing filling capacities up to 60,000 bottles/hour. Filling is followed by the capping station, supplied by world leader AROL pick and place capper with anti-dust and cap sterilization system. The bottles are than sent through the Enercon induction sealing unit followed by the FT inspection system for fill level, cap colour, cap presence, cap misalignment, foil detection with a progressive ejection system. The filled bottles are than packed into individual trolleys with trolley handler and a pick and place robot.

The fully automatic filling and capping line includes an auto foam and clean system allowing human free cleaning of the filling and capping line after production as well as an ultra clean CIP system with a simple push button. The conveying system is also equipped with a human free fast and effective automatic foam and spray washing system.