System and method of discharging a tubular storage assembly

A discharge system for discharging a plurality of flexible containers from a tubular storage assembly, wherein each of the containers comprises a dispensing spout and wherein the storage assembly comprises a plurality of elongated guiding elements onto which a plurality of rows of dispensing spouts can be carried, wherein the guiding elements are configured to be maintained in a substantially tubular arrangement while the containers extend in a generally helical trajectory in the interior formed by the tubular arrangement, the discharge system comprising:

• a storage assembly support configured to support the tubular storage assembly, the guiding elements extending in axial direction;
• a discharge device configured to remove the containers from the tubular storage assembly and move the containers one by one from the second end of the tubular storage assembly towards a discharge region, wherein the discharge device comprises:
• a gripper unit;
• a drive configured to cause the storage assembly and the gripper unit to rotate relative to each other;
• wherein the gripper unit is configured to grip dispensing spouts of containers successively passing by the gripper unit, to transport the gripped dispensing spouts and associated containers in essentially the axial direction and to collect the dispensing spouts in the discharge region.