Free Flow Wine Relies on FILTEC for Seamless and Efficient Co-packing

When Free Flow Wine started building their Sonoma Facility over three years ago, they selected FILTEC inspection solutions for their canning lines based on the following criteria:

Speeding up changeover
Eliminating downtime
Working with Service technicians

About the Customer

Free Flow Wine has established itself as the pioneer of premium wine on tap, bringing the most renowned wine brands to the taps of restaurants and entertainment venues nationwide. Their keg leasing, filling, logistic, and canning services have allowed the wine and hospitality industry to boom in the past decade.

Free Flow was founded in 2009 to offer consumers the freshest, best-tasting glass of wine without compromising sustainability. They offer more than 250 wine brands in kegs from around the world. They are located in both Sonoma, California, and Bayonne, New Jersey.

MicrosoftTeams-image (9)

No Change Parts

As a copacker, Free Flow Wine needs to be as flexible as possible so that it can continue to offer the largest variety of products to its customers. When it was time to select an inspection solution that would work with all varying can heights, they selected FILTEC’s Vision Pressure solution (also known as Auratec) along with the INTELLECT inspection platform.

See FILTEC's solutions for wine in bottles and cans: Watch the video

Free Flow Wine’s lines run at a speed of up to 310 cans per minute, filling cans from 187ml-375ml at any given time. FILTEC’s Vision Pressure solution allows for them to experience the ease of a “no change parts” inspection system. This means they can inspect cans at various sizes thanks to automatic changeover that can be programmed into FILTEC’s systems.

“Instead of having to send off a product to a third party to inspect because of a different can size costing us thousands of dollars, we can quickly make any necessary adjustments with the ease of FILTEC solutions,” explains Chad Morgan, Director of Operations at Free Flow Wines.

FILTEC’s vision pressure solution is an optical device comprised of non-contact, high-resolution, adaptive vision inspection, and laser profiling technology. It precisely measures the external surface topography of each can ensure that they meet internal pressure requirements. Its inspection capabilities include vacuum and pressure sealing for aluminum, ring-pull, slimline and conventional cans.

Paired with the intelligent INTELLECT human interface platform, the FILTEC pressure module enables operators to examine every can in detail as it moves down the line. Statistics from the modules are analyzed and are then determined whether the can remains on the line or is removed if necessary.

MicrosoftTeams-image (8)

Efficient and Reliable Technicians

The FILTEC service team has been able to provide Free Flow Wine with quality customer service at a rapid rate. They have had every issue taken care of allowing Free Flow to do what they do best, provide premium wine on tap to consumers around the country.

“If there is ever an issue, I usually can send over a 10-15 second video and within minutes the technical team is responsive and helpful by all channels,” says Morgan.

Eliminating Downtime

The worst thing for Free Flow Wine is to experience the downtime of their equipment. But with the ease of FILTEC solutions, they can manipulate the equipment to fit the necessary qualifications for their clients within minutes.

“Being a copacker is a competitive market so we want to make sure the consumer is happy, and our client is happy,” states Morgan.

Free Flow Wine’s goal is to make it like they were never there, a seamless silent partner to be specific, and with the help of FILTEC solutions, they can achieve that goal.

Additional smart INTELLECT inspection modules can be connected at any time, ensuring the future of Free Flow Wine remains efficient and their customers remain happy as they continue to install more FILTEC solutions in the coming year.

Learn more about all of Free Flow Wine’s service at: https://www.freeflowwines.com