Thurella is a leading Swiss juice producer and accounts for a third of all the apple juice
concentrate produced in Switzerland. The company processes around 30,000 metric tons of
fruit and 7,500 metric tons of vegetables every year and is also active in the contract bottling
business including juices, beer and ice tea.
One of Thurella’s bottling plants, which contains several production lines, is located in
Eglisau, CH. In the past, fork-lift trucks were used at the facility to move pallets into and
out of storage, to pick pallets, and to load them onto trucks and railcars. This required a
lot of labour and inevitably led to a corresponding level of human error. Due to its limited
warehouse capacity, the bottling plant had to be reconfigured frequently, which reduced
output and raised costs.
To solve the material handling problems, the facility was improved by refurbishing the
warehouse and installing an electrical overhead conveyor (EOC) system which can handle up
to 338 stock movements per hour (in or out) and operates three shifts per day. The length of
the EOC run is approx. 450m. Pallets move along at 90 m/min.
The EOC manufacturer in Schopfheim (Baden, Germany), selected Bauer Type BM20 geared
motors to power each of the systems nineteen vehicles (load carriers). The BM20 units,
designed for overhead conveyor drives, feature a low-backlash coupling for high positioning
accuracy and are fitted with a transmitter for exact motor speed control. Units incorporate low
noise gearing and are completely enclosed and sealed against dust and water spray.
The new EOC system, which leverages gravity to lift heavy pallets, brings with its higher stock
turnover and faster loading and unloading of trucks and railcars, combined with lower costs
and a lower error rate. In addition, it is much safer than rapidly moving fork-lift trucks.