Yakama Juice plant manager Jack West says “when K2 said they could do everything on one machine, I was really impressed.”

Fast, flawless changeovers are important for contract beverage processor Yakama Juice. And a Krones rotary labeler remanufactured by K2 Engineering Group, Big Bend, Wisconsin, has removed the bottleneck for Yakama.
It is the first labeler ever re-engineered with ELAU’s award-winning PacDrive™ SCL integral servo motor/drive technology for rotary packaging machines.
According to Yakama plant manager Jack West, they need the labeler to perform 2 to 3 changeovers per day on the line, running round 16 oz., 32 oz. and gallon bottles, plus rectangular quarts. Both glass and PET bottles use full-wrap, hot-melt glue applied paper labels.
They are now making format changes in 15-20 minutes, a savings of 10-15 minutes per changeover.
The line runs round 16 and 32 oz. bottles plus rectangular bottles. Adding rectangular bottles “changed everything,” according to West, who was originally reconciled to receiving a machine that could only run rectangular shapes. “When K2 said they could do everything on one machine, I was really impressed,” West explained, “Being able to handle glass as well—that was icing on the cake.”
As he oversaw two mechanics manually adjusting a clutch-operated conveyor component on another part of the line, West told Packaging Automation that “servos are the way to go,” for both flexibility and critical performance.
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