Taking safety to cask
January 1st 2012

Diageo invested more than £2 million automating its new cooperage to increase efficiency and safety.The automated solution was provided by CI Logistics.

Coopering is historically a very physical industry," explains Diageo project delivery manager Alan Hadden."One of the main drivers behind the design of the new cooperage was to reduce the manual handling of casks which we knew would improve safety and efficiency." Diageo recently opened a £10m cooperage at its 29 acre site at Cambus, in Clackmannanshire and appointed CI Logistics to provide automation. The objective of the CI Logistics scheme was to automate cask movement throughout each process, an investment from Diageo in excess of £2m.

A number of challenges had to be overcome: First, the specification of the casks varies greatly in weight from 48kg to 128kg and in height from 855mm to 1300mm. Secondly each cask is bespoke so has to be married up with its own hoops and ends at the finish of the procedure. And finally, the hazardous cooperage processes themselves, including steaming, crozing and charring which pose specific problems of their own.

Hadden explains: "CI Logistics took up all the challenges and even came up with a bespoke piece of equipment for a particular application that wasn't in the original brief. They also recommended using simulation software to mimic the casks travelling through the facility. This justified our investment in the project as we could see the flow of casks throughout the facility, potential bottlenecks and how cask production would be increased by some 25% per year." There are two main floor conveyor lines running through the cooperage, one for re-building and one for rejuvenation of casks. Before starting on the rejuvenation line, the cask type and size settings are checked into one of the human machine interface (HMI) terminals of the two main control panels. This information is used in a number of key locations around the system for operations including centralising the cask at cross transfer units and passing the correct information to the robotic system.

Casks are stripped of ends and quarter hoops which are placed in a cradle on one of two branches of a power and free overhead conveyor. Removed parts are given an identification number and stored on a RF (radio frequency) tag fitted to each carrier. The RF tags are read by code readers at key positions around the system keeping the parts on the overhead conveyors in synchronisation with the casks travelling along the floor conveyors.

Once tagged, the cooper transfers the casks onto a floor level driven roller bed conveyor mounted on a lift table in a shallow pit. On command, the lift table rises and puts the cask into the conveyor system ready for the next process, decharring.

After this is complete the casks are delivered, two at a time, to the next stage where they are manipulated by two robots onto platens ready for charring.

The charring stations are constructed in pairs in an insulated cabinet.

At the end of the line the casks arrive at one of six finishing stations. Approaching each station is a gravity roller section of conveyor complete with brake rollers to slow the cask down. A pneumatic gate is operated by foot pedal and indexes the casks, one at a time to be reunited with their ends and hoops from the overhead line at the hydraulic heading and hoop driving machines.

At the start of the rebuild line, the casks are reconstructed with two temporary end plate hoops. These hoops are located on a re-circulating overhead conveyor. The creation of the casks takes place at six cask riser machines from where they are transferred via one of three loading stations onto the main line.

The casks are then accumulated in sets of five and temporary lids are applied prior to them travelling through the steam chamber. Lids are taken off following this operation and temporary bulge and quarter hoops fitted ready for the casks to be loaded into the crozer machines.

After this process the casks travel onto a powered roller conveyor and are inspected with the assistance of a bespoke semiautomatic turn and tilt machine. Here they are transferred onto the main line to enter the charring process and from there to the heading and hoop driving machines at the end of the line.

Tom Duncan, production manager of the new cooperage, concludes: "We have improved the safety of the 80 staff who work here by reducing their manual handling of the casks by 90%, making their work less strenuous and removing them from the more hazardous coopering processes, such as putting the casks into fires or steam chambers. All of that work is now done by robots or automated machines. This allows our coopers to focus on the craft skills which remain central to the industry."