Carlsberg UK and Sidel: cooperation for line relocation and integration

Carlsberg has transferred its beer production in the UK from Leeds to its brewery in Northampton, which is being expanded to serve a capacity of almost seven million hectoliters. Size constraints on the bottling hall and challenging requirements call for a high level of engineering, relocation and integration expertise. Carlsberg has selected Sidel, who will also supply the brewer with a partially new line and space-saving equipment.

The Northampton building is located very close to the town center, making it easily accessible for employees and visitors. But the location also involves some space constraints for the layout of the new packaging facility. While the wet part of the glass line will be relocated from Leeds, Sidel will provide a new and space-saving dry part of the line. The proximity of Sidel’s Hatfield facility was another added-value for Carlsberg. During the building extension phase at Northampton, the overhaul of the main equipment was carried out in Sidel UK by both Sidel and Carlsberg engineers. This assured top quality maintenance as well as reduced project execution time.

The glass line is designed for 300 milliliter bottles and will process 60,000 bottles per hour. It is equipped with a new modular SL90 labeler, replacing the two previous labelers. The SL90 benefits from all options for pressure-sensitive and cold glue labeling at very high speeds.

It offers high flexibility, high performance and easy maintenance, and meets the growing demands of the beer industry for sophisticated and sustainable labeling solutions that attract customers’ interest at point of sale. Further new features of the glass line include new conveyors and a low-level high speed palletizer which will replace the two existing ones.

In 2011, when Carlsberg closed the Leeds brewery, Sidel supported the brewer in relocating its canning line to the Northampton site. Based on this successful relocation experience, Carlsberg decided to entrust to Sidel the relocation of their bottling line. The first bottles are expected to be produced early next year. “We have already successfully accomplished a can line relocation with Sidel. The project management is flexible and reliable. The team is very active and proposes many innovative solutions, like our new labeler. Most importantly, we did not want to depend on several different suppliers, we wanted everything from a single source. And this is precisely what we will receive from Sidel,” Richard Kingdom summarized.