The facility runs one can line on which every can of Downeast cider travels. Every can gets loaded into the depalletizer, and it's automatically lifted onto the line. The cans descend and enter the twist-rinse, where they're cleaned out, sanitized and then prepared for packaging. Once they come through this twist-rinse, the cans enter the filler before being topped by the seamer machine.
“You need to make sure that they're not sticky with any residue around them, so we clean them off,” Flint explained. “We then get checked one more time by an X-ray. That X-ray makes sure we have the right fill level and that there are no particles in the cider.”
After the cans are filled and checked, they move to the accumulation table for predetermined packaging configurations. Mixed packs, for example, can include different blends, which must be preloaded with other flavors that are picked by the facility’s Fanuc robot. The trays of mixed packs are then palletized automatically with a TopTier palletizing machine.
“All our operators have to do is pick up that pallet and then load it into the pushback racks, where our finished product sits,” Flint said. Pallets are then loaded onto trucks through the single-bay door, and then they’re taken to Downeast’s off-site warehouse.
How the MES Helps
Plex MES is an important tool for Downeast. A single-instance, multi-tenant, cloud-based SaaS production platform, it provides a common production ecosystem that supports a real-time, single source of data. It ties production and inventory to quality with end-to-end traceability and connect people and systems, automate processes, and capture and analyze data.
“We use Plex at every step of the way in our process,” Flint explained. “As soon as the raw material comes through the door, we're going to have a check sheet for it. We're going to receive it within Plex, and then it’s tracked at each step of our fermentation process every day. We have a check sheet that our quality team fills out within Plex to then track the fermentation.
“Each fermentation is different for its own characteristics, so we need to track each data point. We can use trends to make sure that we're making the right adjustments at the right time using the correct data for each and every fermentation. That then helps us build the right sweetness levels and the right alcohol levels for our finished product,” Flint said.
The fermentation process takes 7 to 10 days.
“We track every day, which permits us to determine if we can use it earlier or have to let it sit longer, depending on the attributes of the apples and the sugars within those apples, as well as our alcohol by volume (ABV) target,” he continued. “Sometimes we're targeting a higher ABV ferment for some of our higher-ABV ciders. After 10 days of fermenting, we then put it into our bright tanks, which are where we make blends.”
Downeast uses a sort-of apple wine as its base, and then flavors it with different fruit juices and concentrates to create the desired flavors. That process takes about 24 to 48 hours.
“Within that process, we track all through-production within Plex,” Flint said. “We're tracking all of our stability steps within Plex to make sure that it is a clean and safe product before we can send it out the door.”
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