Customer Success Story: Taking Craft Beer Beyond the Brewery
Overview
Steamworks, a very popular local brewpub in Vancouver, British Columbia was looking to expand into the retail sector through bottled beer. Their unique beer had always been brewed and served in the pub only and Steamworks was looking to expand with this new product line. They approached Wexxar Bel looking for a cost saving and effective solution to form and seal shipper boxes for the bottled beer.
The Steamworks experience in the pub has always been infused with a great appreciation for history and culture, and they wanted this experience translated to customers when they brought home a case of their beer. With this in mind, care was taken in designing all parts of the packaging including the beautifully designed boxes used for shipping the beer. This meant the case erector would need to handle the cases with care without damaging them during the forming process. The seal on the case would also need to be secure as each case would be carrying four 6-packs of beer, weighing at approximately 34lbs total, to be shipped to liquor stores all across the province
The Solution
Case Former Solution – Wexxar Bel recommended the WF20H Fully Automatic Case Former with Hot Melt Bottom Sealing. The WF20 model is Wexxar Bel’s most popular case former for small to medium sized firms due to its ease of size changeover, as well as its ability to handle speeds of up to 20 cases per minute, enough for most mid-speed production lines with capacity for growth.
The main factor that led to Steamwork’s decision to go with the WF20H is its reliability. With Wexxar Bel’s patented *Pin & Dome system, each box is opened precisely and squarely to allow for a nice and consistent forming of the case. The Pin & Dome system also gets more reliable over extended use and is less affected by environmental conditions such as dust or fluctuations in air supply.
Case Sealer Solution – After the case is loaded with the 6-packs, it is fed into the BEL 270 Fully Automatic Hot Melt Case Sealer where it is top sealed. The BEL 270 is a very unique machine as it is one of the most compact hot melt case sealers in the market.
Wexxar Bel is able to keep the footprint of this machine so small due to its exclusive Snap Folder Technology. This ultra-safe technology allows the BEL 270 to operate without significant amounts of guarding, allowing for easy operation and clearance in the event of a case jam. Similar to the WF20H, it also runs at up to 20 cases per minute, making it perfect for slow to mid-sized beverage and bottling applications.