2011-09-15 - ABB was quick to the rescue when DB Breweries phoned for urgent assistance with fixing one of their ABB robots, which was packing special edition Rugby World Cup-themed Heineken cans for the tournament which was kicking off the next day.
| Within 24 hours of the call, ABB’s robotics engineer Graeme Paulin was onsite, repairing the robot and getting it back into action within the day. |
DB Breweries installed four ABB IRB 640 palletising robots 13 years ago in their Otahuhu plant, with two of the four robots palletising bottle beverages, while the other two, including the one that needed an urgent service, palletise canned beverages.
Geoff Butt, DB Breweries Planning Engineer, said the robots were a key part of the process in helping prepare increased volumes of Heineken in preparation for the Rugby World Cup tournament:
“The Heineken cans were of particular importance to us as the stadiums only allow cans for the games, so it was essential that we got back to production fast – we couldn’t have the rugby fans going thirsty!”
The IRB 640 hard at work