Unique labeller for unique containers

A label with creases, and a labeller that deliberately produces these creases – what for most beverage producers is a no-no was one of the paramount requirements of Mozart Distillerie in Salzburg. A look at the container’s shape explains the paradox: the liqueur bottles are spherical, to connote the world-famous “Mozart-Kugel”. The label, made of aluminium-coated paper foil, is required to fit snugly round the container – and to look as if it had been applied by hand.

Hitherto, Mozart Distillerie had been using what is meanwhile a 30-year-old labeller from a customised-machine manufacturer, which Plant Manager Friedrich Guggenberger had progressively individualised over the course of time with numerous design enhancements of his own. But the output no longer sufficed – and Mozart Distillerie was looking for a partner to jointly develop a new machine.

Numerous customisation features combined

Because Krones’ corporate roots, of course, originate in labelling technology, the firm accepted the challenge – and combined the long years of practical experience and visions contributed by Friedrich Guggenberger and his team with the technical expertise of Krones’ own labelling specialists. And the results are truly impressive: a combination of features for precise container positioning, several inspection systems, and a multiplicity of technological customisation improvements ensure that Mozart Distillerie’s requirements are translated into engineered reality. For labelling, Krones is for the first time deploying a combination of one cold-glue and one wrap-around Contiroll labelling station, and pressure-sensitive body labels are applied to a sloping area. For affixing the foil, Krones developed a patented combination of a servomotor that turns the bottles, and linear motors that in twelve press-on operations use sponges to carefully press the foil onto the containers.

In order to ensure that the closure cap is correctly positioned as well, Krones has specially developed a guide rail that uses the sloping label area as an orientation reference point. These rails can be re-adjusted with only a few manipulations, so that all six sizes – from the small 50-millilitre to the large one-litre bottle – can be handled with the same system.

The new line is currently dressing around 5,000 bottles per hour, with an option for increasing the output to as much as 9,000 bph. It embodies two antithetical characteristics: the technology is fully automated to the latest state of the art, while the results, by contrast, reflect Mozart Distillerie’s craft philosophy.