“The new line from Krones has enabled us to double our bottling capacities at a stroke – to what is now almost one million litres a day,” says Milan Kunciř, Managing Director of the Hungarian company NT GmbH, which produces sunflower oil for the international markets.
The installation of this line, with a comparatively high rating for edible oil of 22,000 containers per hour, was the highlight so far of NT’s corporate thrust for expansion.
Hungary is the world’s eighth-largest producer of sunflowers, and in terms of yield per hectare it even comes top. In the European Union, Hungary has since 2016 ranked first, with a harvest of well above 1.8 million tons. So for the Agrofert Group, acquiring a stake in NT GmbH was a strategic decision. Following the capacity expansion of the refinery, NT together with Agrofert was able to increase sales substantially through various distribution channels. Currently the company is holding a market share of above 50 per cent.
NT was running a total of three rather elderly bottling lines:
Together, these lines handle 500,000 litres a day – not enough for NT. Which is why under its new management the company decided to double its capacity, and concentrate on a single line the filling operation for the one-litre container, for which demand is highest.
Installed in its entirety by Krones, the line handles 22,000 containers per hour, and comprises:
Milan Kunciř singles out several points that influenced the choice of Krones: “The crucial factors for us were these
For bottling edible oils, maximised accuracy in the filling operation is a crucial criterion for decision-making. For the first time, NT is using a weighing filler instead of a volumetric model. “We believe this will give us higher filling accuracy, irrespective of the product’s filling temperature and viscosity,” says Milan Kunciř. The Modulfill NWJ assures these precise fill quantities specified, since its weighing cells monitor the inflowing oil during the entire filling operation. Once the desired weight has been reached, the valve closes and the product can briefly settle. Then the weight is checked again.
The two different filling speeds ensure perfect flow behaviour. Flow straighteners in the valve produce a filling operation with minimised foaming and turbulence. Installation of the new line was a well-nigh perfect job, says Milan Kunciř.
Krones was right on schedule. So far we’ve been extremely satisfied.
Milan Kunciř Managing Director of the Hungarian company NT GmbH
Now that the new high-speed oil line has eliminated the bottleneck in the firm’s filling capacities, NT can tackle some new projects: the tank farm is to be upsized, the output of the oil mill increased yet again, and the processing of the by-products upgraded. So the thrust for expansion is set to continue for quite a while yet.
