• Compact high-tech: the Innofill Can C can filler
• Plasmax coating technology: the new machine generation
• From modular service packages to smart digital products

Dortmund/Nuremberg – Pioneering filling technology combined with extensive inspection technology, the new Plasmax generation and a broad spectrum of service products are the focus of this year’s trade show for the KHS Group.

“We’ll be demonstrating how our advanced technologies and wide range of service concepts optimize our customers’ production processes and at the same time help to protect the environment in the long term,” says Tobias Wetzel, CSO at KHS, of the company’s pending visit to BrauBeviale. The Dortmund turnkey supplier will again be one of the biggest exhibitors at the show. “At our customers’ side as a partner they can depend on, we’re actively helping to shape the future of the beverage industry with our convincing combined new and further developments in high-precision filling technology, intelligent packaging systems and smart services,” Wetzel continues.

Line concept in focus
As just one example of its extensive line expertise, KHS will be showcasing its successful compact Innofill Can C can filler model. Together with the powerful seamer unit manufactured by Swiss partner Ferrum, the filler achieves an output of up to 60,000 cans an hour. It can be perfectly integrated into medium-capacity beverage lines, particularly in conjunction with KHS process technology or its inspection technology that has been successively expanded over the last few years. The latter includes, among other units, the Innocheck MMS machine management system that localizes and assesses faulty filling valves and closure elements, the newly-developed Innocheck FHC that checks fill levels by X-ray and the Innocheck ECI empty can inspector. This examines empty cans for foreign bodies and damage. Furthermore, an extension retrofittable on existing lines enables previously undetected blind spots to be identified. “With our systems and solutions that have proved themselves on the market many times over, we’re not only improving the quality of production but also increasing safety and efficiency,” says Wetzel.

Sustainability plus product protection
One solution to the demand for circular packaging is provided by the unique technology of the latest-generation InnoPET Plasmax. This coating process for PET containers covers the insides of plastic bottles with an ultra-thin layer of glass. Available as a single machine or blocked with a stretch blow molder and/or additional filler unit, it provides highly effective production protection that unifies optimum quality, freshness and shelf lives with 100% recyclability by type.

Digital planning and extensive consultancy
Progressive technology isn’t all that’s needed to ensure trouble-free, continuous line operation, however. This is why KHS also offers a broad range of service products and consultancy services. These include, for instance, modular service packages that make sure that beverage fillers’ production lines run efficiently and without disruption. Unplanned downtime and unexpected consequential costs are thus avoided. Virtual line design at KHS makes use of up-to-the-minute 3D software that gives customers a holistic impression of their potential line as early as during the offer phase. Thanks to the new mobile laser scanning and virtual reality presentation features, advance planning is now even quicker and more detailed.

KHS will also be enabling visitors to explore its selection of digital services using ConnectApp Guide and its MES systems Innoline Basic Line Monitoring (BLM) and Innoline Flex Control (IFC). ConnectApp Guide addresses the challenges of line maintenance. It facilitates digital, paperless maintenance management by flexibly planning servicing tasks across all sections of a company using a web platform that can be accessed by a mobile app. This gives bottlers greater reliability in maintenance that in turn results in less downtime and optimized production performance. Innoline BLM and IFC are modular software packages specially conceived for the beverage industry that ensure transparency and greater efficiency throughout the entire filling process. Both can be perfectly integrated into the operating company’s infrastructure.

The KHS Group will be in Hall 8 at BrauBeviale from November 26 to 28, 2024.