Beverages

The Lure
of Leo:
Boon Rawd Boosts Khon Kaen
Brewery with New KHS Bottling Line

I
T IS not only the most important and largest brewery group in Thailand, but
A new bottling line at also the one with the longest tradition. We are talking about Boon Rawd, a
Boon Rawd’s brewery in brewery that was established by Phraya Bhirom Bhakdi in 1933, has remained
Khon Kaen does double in family ownership to the present day, and has expanded considerably since
then.
duty by handling both
The Boon Rawd Group now includes two breweries as well as non-alcoholic
refillable and single-use beverage companies. Together, they have a production capacity of around 15
glass bottles. From the dry million hectolitres a year. About 8 million hl/year are attributable to beer production
zones to filling and alone. The highest quality is the standard for all Boon Rawd production plants in
labelling, single source every respect. In the light of this fact, the choice of KHS filling and packaging
supplier KHS has delivered technology at Boon Rawd is one of the main reasons for the company’s success.
Boon Rawd today operates four KHS glass lines and one KHS canning line
a line that is fully
in the group’s two breweries. A special characteristic of all the lines is that the
integrated and designed beer is not pasteurised in the bottle thus enabling the brewery to meet its demand
for rigorous, high volume for high quality. Each of the KHS glass lines has a capacity of 40,000 bottles per
demands in the tropics. hour when filling the 640 ml bottle size, which is the most important on the Thai
market. In addition to the 640 ml glass bottle, the lines also process other sizes of
beer bottle that are in demand on both the Thai and international markets. The
By Rainer Hilgert general rule: Maximum flexibility is a given and the lines can be changed over in
a very short time and without any problems whatsoever. The same applies to the
canning line with a capacity of 60,000 330 ml cans/hour.

Beer and more

In addition to its flagship beer Singha, Boon Rawd also markets Leo and
Thai Beer. All three brands are distributed throughout the Thai market.

24 FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA JUNE/JULY 2006

 Beverages

While Leo and Thai are known exclusively as beer are covered with plastic plates to prevent container damage.
brands, Singha has become established both as a beer brand An automatic inserted liner remover picks up the inverted
and as a brand name for a range of non-alcoholic beverages. trays and inserted liners with vacuum grippers and places
Boon Rawd’s non-alcoholic beverage range includes green them in separate magazines provided for this purpose. The
tea in addition to soda water. A total of around 300 beverage bottle removal height of the Innopal ASN is infinitely
distributors ensure that the Boon Rawd beverage range is adjustable. Different requirements can be implemented
available in every corner of Thailand at all times. individually.
The company has been active in the export area since At Boon Rawd, all of the advantages of the KHS modular
1970. Today, Boon Rawd is represented by the Singha brand dry area concept are implemented in the packaging and
of beer in a total of 36 countries worldwide. Boon Rawd’s palletising zone as well as in the depalletising zone. KHS
quality beers are held in high esteem both at home and abroad, relies consistently on PC-based machine controls for its
as substantiated by numerous national and international modular concept. Unlike the control concepts implemented
awards. These include the ‘Gold Medal Award of Quality’ to date, this solution uses only one intelligence to transmit
from Belgium, the ‘Gold Quality Award’ from ‘The World information via bus technology. Interface problems are a
Brew Association’, and the ‘Gold Taste Award’ from the thing of the past. The central intelligence pinpoints problem
‘American Tasting Institute’. areas exactly.
Further advantages provided by the use of the PC robot
High demand necessitates innovative plant control system are the possibility of rapidly adapting to new
engineering travel distances and the automatic, peripheral-orientated
In order to ensure the highest quality now and in the speed control. Other decisive plus points of the modular
future and at the same time to take into account increasing design include using only cog belt drives to produce
demand, Boon Rawd has just recently invested in further horizontal and vertical movements, which means nothing
KHS bottling and packaging equipment. A new glass line is other than simple design and low-noise, maintenance-free
now in operation and giving faithful service at the Boon operation. Servomotors shorten cycle times and ensure high
Rawd Group’s Khon Kaen Brewery located in northern performance coupled with adherence to the so very important
Thailand. “As so many times before, the decision in favour positioning accuracy.
of KHS equipment was the right one,” said
Khon Kaen Brewery’s Vice Executive
Director.
In the case of the new KHS glass line,
Boon Rawd decided to opt for a line
capacity of 40,000 640 ml bottles/hour.
Most of the individual line components
are identical to those of the equipment
previously ordered. The reason for this is
the high level of satisfaction with the
existing equipment.
The filling line is suitable for
processing both non-refillable and
refillable bottles. After depalletising, the
refillable bottles pass directly to an
Innoclean DM bottle washer whereas the
non-refillable bottles go straight to the
rinser-filler-block after depalletising.

Modular dry area concept

An Innopal ASN depalletiser handles
the task of depalletising new refillable and
non-refillable glass bottles. This operates
fully automatically with level compen-
sation and cover and inserted liner An Innopal ASN depalletiser handles the task of depalletising new non-
removers. All surfaces of the depalletiser refillable glass bottles. This operates fully automatically with level
exposed to contact with the glass bottles compensation and cover and inserted liner removers.

FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA JUNE/JULY 2006 25

 Beverages

Double-end bottle washing

The bottle washer incorporated into
the line for handling refillable bottles is
the double-end version of the Innoclean
DM. Double-end bottle-washing
equipment is recommended particularly
in hot regions of the world such as
Thailand. This is because potential
contamination of the refillable bottles
supplied in these regions is usually
considerably higher than in moderate
climatic zones. In the double-end bottle
washer, the dirty bottle and clean bottle
discharges have been intentionally
separated to ensure best possible sanitary
conditions.
All double-end bottle washing
machines are also equipped with a series
of several caustic baths. Specific gradual
reduction of impurities is a given. An
intensive pre-cleaning section that
immediately follows the draining of
residual liquids was incorporated in the
Above: Double-end bottle-washing equipment is recommended for hot Innoclean DM for Boon Rawd. Labels
regions of the world such as Thailand. Below: In keeping to Boon Rawd’s are removed in three stages during the
‘All from one source’ philosophy, KHS also supplied the complete process cleaning process. This further increases
engineering equipment, including the CIP system, for the new line at Khon Kaen. the service life of the caustic solution.

26 FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA JUNE/JULY 2006


Single-channel rinser for non-
refillable bottles
When refillable bottles are to be
processed, the mechanically controlled
Innoclean FR EM can be taken off line.
Installed ahead of the filler, it is
designed especially for rinsing non-
refillable bottles with fresh water. Any
impurities such as dust particles are
reliably removed from the bottles.
Innofill DRS-ZDS for
low-oxygen filling
On completion of the washing
process, both non-refillable and
refillable bottles are filled by the
electronically controlled Innofill DRS-
ZDS probe filler. The filling process is
outlined: After initial pre-evacuation
comes the first steam treatment to kill
any potentially beer-contaminating
germs and bacteria. This is followed by
another pre-evacuation step, a second
steam treatment, and the third and final
evacuation.
The bottles, now sterilised for beer,
are prepared for bottling in a vacuum
atmosphere by means two-stage
pressurisation. Once the pressure is
equalised, the liquid valve opens and
Making boxes from cardboard blanks: the
conducts the beer over a spreader to the
inside walls of the bottle. High valve
filling output is achieved during the fast
filling phase in the uncritical, cylin-
drical part of the bottle. This is followed
by a slow filling phase in the narrow
bottle neck for exact filling level
measurement. A pulse from the probe
closes the liquid valve. This is followed
by pre- and final depressurisation. The
probe-controlled slow filling phase
ensures that filling levels are exact. The
pressure-controlled depressurisation
process produces little foam. The filling
phase setpoints and thus the filling
levels for all valves can be changed
centrally even during the ongoing
filling process.
“Up to now, our experience with the
KHS filling system has been the very
best. This system maintains our high
product quality exceptionally well due
to the extremely low-oxygen filling
process and the special bottle treatment
in the bottling machine,” explains the
brewery’s Vice Executive Director.
‘All from one source’ is the motto
of the Boon Rawd Brewery. It therefore
goes without saying that KHS also
supplied the necessary process
Beverages
Innopack CA carton unfolder.
engineering, including the CIP system
and the flash pasteuriser equipped with
fully automatic control and PU
regulation.
Robust, flexible and powerful
bottle dressing
An Innoket KL 2060 labelling
machine handles the task of dressing
the bottles. It is equipped with two
labelling stations that apply shoulder,
back, and neck ring labels to non-
refillable and refillable bottles. Ease of
operation, low maintenance, and the
related assurance of best possible
sanitary conditions are key features of
the Innoket KL 2060 labeller.
This generation of labellers is
equipped with automatic head height
adjustment so that no manual work is
required for bottle type changeover.
The labelling stations operate accor-
ding to the principle of rotation. A scale
is used to set the ideal position for each
of the various styles of bottle. A
differential gear integrated in the drive
train of the station ensures that the front
and back labels are exactly positioned
and seated.
All labelling stations of the Innoket
FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA JUNE/JULY 2006 27
 Beverages
After packing, the cartons go straight to the
Innopack CV carton sealer.
KL 2000 generation of labellers offer a long service life.
The first overhaul is not due until after 20,000 hours of
operation at the earliest. Even then, only minimal wear is to
be expected.
High capacity carton packing and palletising
Boon Rawd packs both refillable and non-refillable
bottles in cartons. In order to cope with the high line capacity
and also to maintain the flow within the line, no fewer than
two Innopack CA carton unfolders and two Innopack CV
carton sealers are incorporated into the new packaging line.
Each Innopack CA carton unfolder straightens out the
cardboard box blanks, folds in the bottom flaps, and glues
them with hotmelt. This is followed by pneumatic position
fixing of each cardboard blank picked up individually by
suction. A height-adjustable and side-adjustable thruster with
opposing closing tongs ensures optimum contact pressure.
Finished cartons leave the Innopack CA upright and pass
directly to the Innopack PPZ packer.
The Innopack PPZ is a new generation, twin-axis
machine that provides exceptional accessibility, rapid format
changing, and ease of operation. The Innopack PPZ handles
the various carton tolerances individually. The cartons are
positioned precisely by centering frames ensuring trouble-
free packing.
Next, the cartons pass to the Innopack CV carton sealers
that control the flawless glue application and perfect sealing
28 FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA JUNE/JULY 2006
processes. The central drive, a special feature of the Innopack
CV carton sealer, ensures that the belts are synchronised
and keeps the carton from deforming during the gluing
process. The machine can be adapted to various carton sizes
by a central handwheel adjustment facility.
An Innopal PBN palletiser loads the cartons onto pallets.
It has a two-lane pack infeed conveyor and arranges the
cartons provided in interlocking stacks. The result is perfect
layer patterns and high overall stability of the pallet load.
Modern brewery with traditional heart
“For us, the new line is another KHS highlight and at the
same time provides us with active future-proofing,” says
Boon Rawd’s Vice Executive Director. This philosophy of
quality is pursued at all levels, from the product and the
packaging to the distribution channels and corporate
communication. Boon Rawd maintains a strong presence in
everyday life in Thailand, from promoting environmental
measures to sponsoring traditional Thai festivals, sporting
events or educational activities. Thus, Boon Rawd is not
only active as an international producer of high-quality
branded products, but also as a brewery that represents
Thailand and promotes Thai culture – a modern brewery
with a traditional heart. Enquiry No: 024
Rainer Hilgert is Sales Director for Asia and Australia,
KHS Asia Pte. Ltd Singapore.