The Bembel-With-Care cider brand, bottled in colourful cans, gave the traditional Hessian drink a modern image a few years ago. It is produced by the Krämer winery, which has expanded its site in the Odenwald with a new production hall and warehouse. For the labelling of the trays and pallets produced there, the company relies on technology from the region from Rea Elektronik.
Since 2023, all production processes at Krämer - from pressing to delivery - have been bundled in one place. A modern canning and returnable filling line was installed in the new hall, which up to 20,000 cans or 10,000 bottles per hour can be filled. The family business deliberately opted for a regional partner for the inline labelling. „It was important to us that Rea was a company from the region,“ explains Production Manager Jonathan Jekel. The good advice and understanding of the company's requirements were also decisive factors.
Rea was already involved in the design of the new production line during the planning phase. The labelling systems were coordinated together: A labelling system with integrated CAB print module automatically prints and applies tray labels with EAN code, product name and best-before date. At the end of the line, a pallet labeller ensures GS1-compliant labelling of the shipping pallets on two sides. Both systems are controlled via an industrial PC with Loftware NiceLabel labelling software, which Rea also supplied.
The system is Designed for flexibility. „Because we have such a diverse range and also fill for other suppliers, the entire system has to be able to change products quickly,“ explains Jekel.
„The industrial PC with NiceLabel software, which Krämer uses to operate the two Rea systems, obtains all the necessary information from the database. Our team of experts also carefully checks that labels and colour ribbons are optimally matched to each other. This guarantees the highest code quality and consistently reliable printing results. In this way, we ensure that the labels on the pallets and trays can be read without any problems in the incoming goods department or at the supermarket checkout.“
Gerald Peter, Head of Rea Label
Despite the supply chain problems during construction The systems were commissioned on schedule. In the meantime, Rea developed a pragmatic solution until all components were available. The systems are now running smoothly and staff training has also been completed.
The contact between the partners remains close - especially when replenishing consumables. Jekel believes that the collaboration could be expanded in the future: if the labelling also includes the cans themselves in the future, Rea could come into play again.
