EVENT PREVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 10/24 www.petpla.net 34 Romina Mineralbrunnen reducing false rejections and addressing challenges with tethered caps on PET bottles Optimising production with AI-powered quality control system Romina Mineralbrunnen, part of the German “Franken Brunnen” group in Reutlingen-Rommelsbach, has been using BBull Technology’s deep learning AI technology for years in its glass line for empty bottle inspection. Based on the good detection performance, the system is now being applied to both PET lines, particularly to address the new tethered cap issue. Around 150 employees at Romina Mineralbrunnen fill 178 million glass and PET bottles annually with water and soft drinks under the “EiszeitQuell” and “SilberBrunnen” brands. Two PET lines (with capacities of 20,000 and 16,000 bph) fill inhouse blown Petcycle bottles. In the German Petcycle system, PET bottles are used only once but the bottles are delivered and sold in reusable crates. The glass line has a capacity of 40,000 bph, filling standardised reusable glass bottles in 0.7 l and 0.75 l, and two custom bottles. Glass bottles still account for 60% of the bottles distributed across Baden-Württemberg. Water from the Ice Age In 1957, Friedrich Scheuermann founded the bottling company with a used filling machine, producing soft drinks delivered to Reutlingen. By 1973, three springs were tapped, and the company and brand “Romina” (Rommelsbacher Mineral-Natur) were established. Geological studies suggested Ice Age-era deep wells in Reutlingen-Rommelsbach, leading to the drilling of a new deep well in 1994. Water analyses revealed a unique water source formed over 10,000 years ago at a depth of 400m, protected by impermeable rock layers. In 1996, Romina surpassed the milestone of 100 million bottled units per year. In 2000, the water was renamed “EiszeitQuell,” and thanks to marketing campaigns, sales continued to grow. Since 2002, the company has been filling Petcycle bottles. Control systems BBull Technology, based in Königsbach-Stein, Germany, has been a global leader in control systems, sorting and distribution technology, and transport and conveyor systems for the beverage and food industries for decades. The company develops and manufactures a range of container and packaging inspection systems as well as customer- and product-specific sorting, distribution, and ejection systems. Due to the constant introduction of new bottle shapes and sizes by providers in the beverage industry, along with the vast variety of labels, containers, and closures, BBull developed a PC-based filler management and control system. This system is based on high-performance cameras, powerful PC technology with AI, a graphical display with a touch screen, and advanced lighting systems. Additionally, it comes with correspondingly fast rejection systems. “We have been using BBull’s camera systems for many years on our glass line to detect foreign objects in crates, misaligned, broken, or overturned bottles, as well as incorrect bottles,” says Romina CEO Stefan Gugel. Due to a new standard glass bottle and many custom bottles from other companies, which are hard to distinguish from Romina bottles via cameras, along with protruding rings on the bottle caps, the number of rejected crates increased significantly. “These foreign bottles could no longer be detected by our old camera systems, so we had to manually sort out many foreign bottles,” Gugel explains. Their long-time partner BBull had just developed a new system, “so we seized the opportunity and installed BBull’s ‘Teta-Line LG DL’ in the line. It has proven to be highly effective,” says Gugel. Fewer rejected crates Teta-Line LG DL - “DL” stands for deep learning - is a system designed to detect crates and bottles and eject defective ones. Self-adaptive algorithms and easy training for new containers make it a flexible and scalAround 150 employees at Romina Mineralbrunnen in Reutlingen fill approximately 178 million glass and PET bottles annually. Defective crates are reliably identified and rejected for manual reprocessing. BBull Hall 7 | Booth 251
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