Coca-Cola has recently benefited from a survey of all the transmission and conveyor chain used on machinery at its bottling plant at Enfield, North London. The Enfield site is one of the largest bottling plants in the UK and is capable of filling a staggering six million bottles a daycontaining 12 million litres of various drink products. The survey was conducted by engineers from Renold Chain as part of the company's free Site Survey service in which every chain at the plant was meticulously photographed, catalogued and given a unique code number.
The information was stored on CDs kept by both Coca-Cola and Renold. When a chain needs to be replaced all the maintenance team at Coca-Cola will need to do is look up the chain in the list and order a new one by quoting its unique code. A new chain of the correct size and type is then supplied with
any attachments that may be applicable.
During the survey at Coca-Cola Renold's engineers made an expert analysis of the size and type of chain on every application and made recommendations for improvements where appropriate. A number of chains were identified as suffering from premature wear resulting from drink spillages that were removing lubricant before it could penetrate the pin and bush. These chains have now been replaced with Renold Syno, a high-tech chain with lubricant held in a specially designed sintered bush.
Lubrication is released in precisely the right amounts needed and directly onto the components of the chain that need it. Relubrication of Syno chain is not necessary during its lifetime and its smooth operation is not
affected by drinks spillages.
So satisfied were Coca-Cola with initial successes that they have now upgraded to Renold chain throughout the plant. Rinser machinery has been fitted with the stainless steel version of Renold Syno for additional corrosion protection, and Renold Synergy high-performance chain hasbeen fitted to provide enhanced wear life on main drives throughout the plant.