Liquids & Drinks · Beer & Brewing

Filling Line Speed & Microstop Elimination

Recover 4,200 cans per hour by correlating CO2 pressure variance to starwheel jams before they happen.

+16 pts

OEE Improvement

From 74% to 90% on the primary can filling line over a 12-week pilot

−68%

Microstops Reduced

Root cause analysis attributed 71% of microstops to CO2 pressure variance and starwheel timing drift

+4,200 cans/hr

Line Speed Recovery

Equivalent to 33,600 additional cans per 8-hour shift at recovered target speed

How Allie Works Here

From signal to action in real time.

Production OptimizationProcess ControlPredictive Maintenance

The Production Optimization agent processes filler speed historian tags at 500ms resolution and correlates microstop events to upstream pressure and downstream conveyor gap signals, building a microstop causation Pareto updated every 30 minutes. When CO2 counter-pressure drifts outside the ±0.1 bar control band, the Process Control agent adjusts the pressure regulator setpoint via OPC-UA write before the fill level deviation triggers a starwheel jam. The agent maintains a rolling shift-level OEE score visible in the Control Tower and escalates to the line supervisor when OEE drops below the target floor. The Predictive Maintenance agent watches starwheel bearing vibration and fill valve seal leak-rate signatures, raising work orders into the Maintenance agent queue, complete with the relevant Krones service bulletin and historical fix notes, well before they cause a hard stop.

Machines & Connectivity

OT-connected, protocol-native.

Krones Contiform S Filler

Krones AG

OPC-UA

Rotary filler-seamer handling up to 60,000 cans/hour; primary throughput bottleneck

Sidel Matrix Combi

Sidel

OPC-UA

Blow-fill-cap system for PET bottle lines; integrated into Krones line via MES order handshake

Rockwell ControlLogix 5380

Rockwell Automation

EtherNet/IP

Line controller managing conveyor synchronization, starwheel timing, and reject gate logic

Process Variables

The signals Allie monitors and moves.

Signal Name	Historian Tag	Unit	Baseline	Optimized	Target
Filler Speed	`FIL01.SPD.BPM`	bottles/min	720–840	810–840	Higher
Microstop Count per Hour	`FIL01.MSTOP.CNT`	stops/hr	14–22	4–7	Lower
Fill Level Deviation	`FIL01.FILL.DEV`	mL	±4.2	±1.6	Tighter
CO2 Counter-Pressure	`FIL01.CO2.PRES`	bar	2.8–3.6	3.1–3.3	Tighter

Filler SpeedHigher

FIL01.SPD.BPM

Baseline: 720–840 bottles/min→ 810–840 bottles/min

Microstop Count per HourLower

FIL01.MSTOP.CNT

Baseline: 14–22 stops/hr→ 4–7 stops/hr

Fill Level DeviationTighter

FIL01.FILL.DEV

Baseline: ±4.2 mL→ ±1.6 mL

CO2 Counter-PressureTighter

FIL01.CO2.PRES

Baseline: 2.8–3.6 bar→ 3.1–3.3 bar

In the Field

"a global brewer operating two pilot plants across North and South America, go-live on the highest-throughput can line, with a 20-plant expansion roadmap already scoped"

Deployed at a global brewer operating two pilot plants across North and South America, go-live on the highest-throughput can line, with a 20-plant expansion roadmap already scoped. The results above reflect production data from the 60–90 day period following full deployment.

+16 ptsoee improvement

−68%microstops reduced

+4,200 cans/hrline speed recovery

Next Step

See what your lines are actually capable of.

A 30-minute operational assessment. We review your OT/IT setup, identify the highest-ROI deployment, and deliver a scoped pilot proposal.

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