In Vino Ingenium – Innovation in pre-packed wines metrological control
The aim of this project is to develop, implement and verify an automated and optimized liquid fill control system, designed to meet the specific requirements of the SME Wine industry bottling processes while supporting all relevant European Union and Mercosul regulations, and simultaneously enabling this industry to enhance its competitiveness through cost savings and higher quality level.
Consequently, all issues related to the processes, products, equipments and other aspects that can affect the metrological control will be carefully analysed during the development, in order to achieve the proposed objective, such as: bottling lines, measurement instruments, raw materials (bottles, contents, etc), legal requirements, human resources and quality methods used in the process control.
Creating the tools to allow SMEs to meet the legislation – 75/107/EEC, 75/106/EEC, 76/211/EEC and 80/232/EEC directives - is an “obligatory advantage” which can propitiate a win-win relationship between the SME and the consumer, reducing the excessive quantity in pre-packed products – optimisation of the filling process and filling equipment maintenance; reduction of excessive quantity; and for the consumer – guaranty of proper quantities of product for the specified price.
According to the directives above mentioned referring to the metrological control of pre-packed products, the verification of the contents is obligatory for every pre-packed product with a nominal quantity between 5g or 5ml and 10kg or 10l, with or without the EEC label (symbol “e”), that will always symbolize a competitive and quality advantage of the product
If the present situation remains unchanged, the industry may face the risk of having the commercialisation of products forbidden across Member States and other markets, because the product quantities and package do not fulfil the legal metrological regulations. There are several cases of Portuguese and other southern Member States have products retained in customs – for example in Mercosul countries - because of non-fulfilment of the legal acceptation regulations and/or absence of the metrological control registers. Therefore it is urgent to develop new solutions to improve the pre-packed products winery metrological control systems.
The implementation of the given computerized metrological control system will increase the automatization of the process and improve the accuracy of the metrological control. The metrological control system will be able to read the value given by the scale(s) or by a digital densimeter, automatically correcting it for a 20ºC temperature. This proposed system aims to automatize the collection of data, as well as the correspondences between the empty bottles weight with the filled bottles, without interfering directly in the filling system. Consequently, the data treatment will be done in real time, allowing for the prevention of future problems, with immediate corrections of deviation tendencies.
In order to allow the management off-line of multiple filling processes, the current project will implement a centralized system of management and data treatment. This system will enhance the performance and the quality levels of the filling processes, allowing reducing the excess quantity of product (the excessive filling is a common practice in many winery companies, in order to avoid problems with the consumers), and preventing down times in the machines, avoiding unnecessary adjustments and maintenance.
Summary of THE Expected Benefits:
§ Decrease costs by 7% per year due to an efficient management of: the filling process, maintenance control, and human resources allocation (require less work in accompanying data and machine adjustments);
§ Precise filling process that avoids over filling;
§ Improve the maintenance system of the machines, since potential problems might be foreseen through the accompanying control letters carried out in real time;
§ Meet specific international and EU legislation in order to get the “e” certificate in the product, as well as to meet the export requirements of other countries (e.g. Mercosul countries);
§ Monitor, in real time, wine oscillations in density (including the temperature and alcohol %) and their influence in the filling process;
§ Guarantee the product control and register, as well as the operators responsible for the filling operations;
§ Offer a win-win situation for the packer enterprise (higher profits due to all the previously mentioned benefits) and the consumer (it gets what he/she pays for).
The Partners
The proposed project will meet its objectives through a strong consortium that involves small and medium size wine producers, RTD providers that have the technical background and experience in the industry, and a consulting organization specialized in the quality control of filling operations – Figure 1.
Aferymed (SME Project Coordinator, A1)
AFERYMED was founded in 1999, being the first Portuguese company working in the inspection, auditing, software development and training of pre-packed products metrology systems, and the only certified by the Portuguese Institute of Quality as a pre-packed products metrological verification entity since January 2001.
Since the company’s foundation, the close contact established with pre-packing products companies, in general, with a focus on wine filling operations has allowed the understanding of the real problems and specific needs of these companies, in terms of metrological control of pre-packed quantities. Due to the persistence of the pre-packed companies, AFERYMED has accepted their challenge and started developing software for quality control of filling operations. In September 2001 and 2002, AFERYMED won the National Award for Business Spirit and the Innovation Prize, respectively.
Adega Cooperativa de Vidigueira, Cuba e Alvito C.R.L. (SME, A2)
The majority of the region’s wine producers founded the Adega Cooperativa de Vidigueira, Cuba e Alvito in 1963. The Adega Cooperativa de Vidigueira, Cuba e Alvito has a large collection of white and red wines, including the following brands: Vila dos Gamas DOC, Vila dos Frades DOC, País das Uvas DOC.
This company is certified by the NP ISO 9002, and markets its wine with the EEC label (symbol “e”), ensuring the quality and conformity of its products to the consumer. Currently the Adega Cooperativa de Vidigueira, Cuba e Alvito uses excessive filling, in order to guarantee product fill to the consumer.
The implementation of a fill control monitoring system will allow more accurate control of the filling process, thus reducing the excess quantity of product and preventing machinery down time by avoiding unnecessary adjustments and maintenance. The proposed project will enhance the company’s competitiveness, improving the export potential of its products in the EU and international markets. This improvement results in cost savings and additional revenue for the SME and the region indirectly.
J. M. Fonseca Internacional Vinhos SA (SME, A3)
J. M. Fonseca Internacional Vinhos SA was funded in 1970 and was one of the first enterprises certified in Portugal according to NP EN ISO 9002. This company has the largest winery of the country and produces in average 1,5 millions of litres of wine anually. The most famous wine brand belonged to this company is called Piriquita (the oldest Portuguese wine brand).
The quality and in particular, the metrological control was one of the more important concerns of the company, due to its high level of exports. According to its objectives, the company adopted in 1999, the TQM - “Total Quality Management” system and the EFQM Excellence Model.
Furthermore, the metrological control is considered of big concern in this enterprise, due to the big percentage of products’ exportations. Consequently, this winery developed a software to control the quantities in the bottles, nevertheless it presents severeal limitations. Thus, J. M. Fonseca Internacional Vinhos SA wants to invest in the reformulation and readjustment of all the system in order to find the most suitable, optimized and economic viable solution.
Foreign Winery (SME, A4) – PROBABLY YOU!!!
Sinmetro (RTD Provider, B1)
Sinmetro was founded in 2002 as a spin-off from Instituto Pedro Nunes (an Association for the Development of Science and Technology). Sinmetro is a technical consulting company, specialized in the development of engineering projects in the areas of production systems, quality management and control systems, and metrological verification of products and equipments. Sinmetro is constituted by a multidisciplinary team, which structured to enhance the clients (mainly SMEs) competences and to offer fully integrated solutions. Due to the persistence of the pre-packed companies, Sinmetro has accepted their challenge and started developing software for quality control of filling operations. Recently, Sinmetro has developed software for the statistical control of the filling process, allowing for a completely automated statistical control system of the filling process.
In order to ensure the fulfilment of the industry’s needs and the correct implementation and adequacy to the real working conditions, Sinmetro services include: development, testing, and training. Sinmetro’s client list includes: Compal S.A. and Lactogal S.A. - two of the largest juice and milk companies in Europe.
Other Important Information:
Project Duration: 2 years
Total Budget: 0.5 to 2 millions of euro 50 % EU funded.
Total Expected Costs’ Contribution from the Foreign Partner: personnel costs, project management, overhead, etc. - not necessarily a financial flow.
Major Project Deliverable: Metrological control system – technology transfer.
Eligible SMEs:
§ Less than 250 employees
§ No more than EUR 40 million annual turnover or no more than EUR 27 million balance sheet total
§ Less than 25% of the organisation is owned by one enterprise or jointly by several enterprises falling outside the definition of an SME (except public investment corporations, venture capital companies and institutional investors, provided no control is exercised either individually or jointly)
§ Is not a research centre, research institute, contract research organization or a consultant.
For more information, please contact Mark Spinoglio () or Luísa magalhães () at SPI.
Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação – Consultadoria Empresarial e Fomento da inovação, S.A.
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Tel. 22.607 64 00 – Fax 22.609 91 64 – Email:
Web: www.spi.pt