Overview
A brewery line has to move glass at speed without breaking it. Bottles are heavy, round and unstable, they arrive and leave in crates, and the whole line runs wet with product, condensation and cleaning solution. Table top chain is the standard answer, because the flat plate surface keeps bottles upright and the chain keeps running underneath containers that are held back.
The other half of a brewery is crate handling. Empties come back from trade, go through the washer, feed the filler, and full crates go out to dispatch. That is chain conveyor work, since crates are heavy, often stacked and usually wet. Most breweries end up running table top chain for the bottles and crate chain for the crates they travel in.
Where we work on the line
- Bottle and can filling lines
- Crate washing infeed and outfeed
- Empty crate return handling
- Accumulation between filler and labeller
- Keg handling and transfer
- Case packing and palletising feeds
Frequently asked questions
What conveyor is used on a bottling line?
Table top chain conveyor. The flat top plates form a level surface that keeps bottles upright at speed, and side guide rails hold them in lane. Because the chain runs on underneath a held bottle, the line can accumulate and release without stopping, which is how buffers between filler, capper and labeller are managed.
How do you stop bottles jamming at corners?
By using side flexing chain so the line turns on one continuous run, rather than butting two straight conveyors together with a dead plate between them. That transfer point is where bottles most often catch, tip or fall, so removing it removes the jam.
Can the same line handle both bottles and crates?
They are normally separate conveyors. Bottles run on table top chain, which is built for upright containers guided by rails. Crates run on crate chain, which drives strands under the crate base and is built for the weight of full and stacked crates. Most breweries run both, connected at the packing and depalletising points.