Uiltje brewing .co

Brouwerij Uiltje, officially Uiltje Brewing Company is a Dutch craft beer brewery. The brewery was founded as Het Uiltje in 2012. The brewery has been brewing its own beer at the brewery in the Waarderpolder in Haarlem since 2016. In 2021, the brewery was acquired by Royal Swinkels Family Brewers.

Uiltje has won national and international awards, ranking for the second time in the Top 100 Best Brewers in the World by beer platform RateBeer. Outside the beer world, the brewery is known for its distinctive labels illustrated by “Gerben Valkema”

The Challange Uiltje faced

As the demand for the beer of Uiltje kept on rising de vraag naar efficiente en goed lopende machines bleef stijgen. Uiltje draaide hun verpakkings proces met gemodificeerde en verouderde machines die niet meer optimaal werkte en niet aan de markt vraag konden voldoen.

Dit leverde veel verspilling, stilstand en frustratie op tijdens het verpakkings proces.

A new solution

When Zomerdijk started working with Uiltje, they first took a close look at what was truly needed and where the requirements lay. Uiltje wanted a line capable of handling different can sizes at the speed of their filler, which is around 3,000 cans per hour. With the high market demand, they wanted to be able to upscale the process if needed to ensure longevity. The new installed machines are able to do so, Uiltje can now scale up to 12,000 cans per hour.

With this requirement, Zomerdijk began designing and developing the packaging line. By placing the packaging line efficiently in a U-shape, the operators can easily and quickly access each phase of the line.

The machines

After the design of the complete line Zomerdijk deliverd the following machines:

– Can Depalletizer
– Quick change Twist rinser
– Several Conveyors
– Accumulation table (triple lane configuration 200 cans)
– Semi auto Case packer

The succesfull partnership between Uiltje brewery and Zomerdijk Engineering

Uiltje and Zomerdijk have become great partners. By listening to customer needs and delivering high-quality machinery, we are both more than happy to work together.

We conducted an interview with James, the Production Manager at Uiltje, where he tells about their canning line.