Crown Expands Intelligent Seamer Monitoring Technology
![Crown Integra System Crown Integra System](/sites/default/files/fields/images/article/integra_Logo.jpg)
Double seaming is a critical step in the canning process, creating an airtight seal that helps to preserve product freshness and prevent degradation. To help food and beverage fillers overcome potential challenges during the seaming process, Crown Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCK) (Crown) (www.crowncork.com), a leading supplier of metal packaging products worldwide, offers an advanced an innovative solution that operates in real time. The new Integra™ intelligent double seaming system was developed to help monitor the integrity and quality of seams, allowing for streamlined production of fault free, quality packaged products.
The Integra™ system is a combined software and hardware solution that is installed on fillers’ lines to measure double seam quality on all types of metal cans filled and seamed on rotary seamers, helping to minimize risk and reduce line downtime. The advanced monitoring system simultaneously identifies deviations from standard seaming conditions and rejects defective products that may hinder the production process for an overall streamlined process. The system also monitors machine trends over time, providing reports that indicate when preventive maintenance is needed to avoid future issues and potentially expensive product recalls.
“We’re pleased to be able to offer this technology as an efficient method of monitoring and improving our customer’s filling operations,” said Mark Davies, Manager – Process Monitoring, Crown Holdings, Inc. “Integra’s intelligent double seaming system is essentially a double seaming expert in a box – it enables quality control to stand at the forefront of the double seaming process and allows for immediate resolution of any incidents.”
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For fillers, Integra™ is the only way to monitor the integrity and quality of double seams in real time, which can eliminate issues caused by errors such as missed, loose or double ends, knocked-down flanges, or situations where the food or beverage product has entered into the seam, compromising seam quality. The computerized system detects both one-off incidents and patterns of faulty incidents while also collecting critical data on all occurrences for later evaluation. The Integra™ system’s capacity to identify errors is critical in reducing the need for manually sorting defective cans or scrapping product batches altogether as well as avoiding potentially harmful product recalls.
The new monitoring system is designed to benefit food and beverage fillers alike. For food brands, the system improves operational efficiency, reduces waste and improves overall product quality. For beverage brands, Integra™ provides an additional level of on-site security as it helps to prevent the potentially damaging consequences of seaming errors occurring at the extremely high speeds typically found in beverage canning facilities.
The Integra™ system is ultimately intended to help optimize seamer settings and increase tooling life. Upon detecting reoccurring seamer failures, the system automatically halts production, allowing for swifter recalibration and reducing the risk of machine damage.
Crown supplies not only the system’s installation, but also training and ongoing back-up monitoring and support. Subsequent to installation, Crown provides customers with regular reports on daily ejection reports, 28-day condition reports that can identify certain trends and also a remote modem link for Crown seaming support to monitor the system live. The unique and proprietary innovation both improves customers’ operational efficiency on filling lines and prevents downstream quality issues in distribution and in the retail environment.
About Crown Holdings, Inc.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, Crown Holdings, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of packaging products for consumer marketing companies around the world. Crown makes a wide range of metal packaging for food, beverage, household and personal care and industrial products and metal vacuum closures and caps. As of December 31, 2014, the Company operated 149 plants located in 40 countries, employing 23,024 people. For more information, visit www.crowncork.com.
For more information, contact:
In North America: Hella Gourven, Marketing Manager; Tel: 1 215 698 6056; Email: hella.gourven@crowncork.com.
In Europe: Olivier Aubry, Business Development & Marketing Director; Tel: 41 417 591 089; Email: olivier.aubry@eur.crowncork.com
In Asia Pacific: Evelyn Lim, CROWN Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd; Tel: 65 6229-4880; Email: evelyn.lim@crowncork.com.sg
For editorial inquiries: Thomas T. Fischer, Vice President Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs; Tel: 1 (215) 552-3720; Email: thomas.fischer@crowncork.com