Palletizing Cases of Wine

The Client & Objective

Founded in 1970 in the heart of Missouri wine country, St. James Winery has consistently grown by making uniquely regional, award-winning wines. Over the years, business blossomed and the bottling operation which was now responsible for hundreds of thousands of cases per year needed automation.

The Challenges

MMCI Automation evaluated the entire process - from removing the empty bottles to case packing to palletizing the 40 lb. cases - most of which were slow and hard on the workers. While the need to reduce hand-palletizing and streamline upstream automation was obvious, challenges existed.

Adding automation needed to be completed with minimal disruption to their production lines
Space was limited
Margins needed to improve to justify the investment
The line needed to output more and be easy to operate

The Solution

After evaluating the operation, space and opportunities for improvement, the team at MMCI developed a plan to re-arrange the existing operation with new and existing conveyors while installing an automated case-packing machine and a QSP-200 robotic palletizer with custom-built end-of-arm-tooling.

Results

The results for St. James were astounding. Not only was the project a win for the company, but the reduced physical workload was received very well by employees who could now be more effectively utilized elsewhere in the operation. Specifically:

Workers became happier and more productive
Workers see more of a future and the automation makes the job more interesting
Margins improved as the labor cost per case was lowered by 35-40%
Allows entire team to focus more time in the cellar making good quality wine

How Can We Help?

At any stage of your automation project, we can help. Call us at 314-438-3300 or fill out the form below.