A method of wrapping bottle packaging units, in a beverage bottling plant, with shrinkwrap material and shrinking the shrinkwrap material around the bottle packaging units, which bottle packaging unit comprise a plurality of beverage bottles, and minimizing faulty bottle packaging units minimizing wastage of shrinkwrap material and minimizing rewrapping of faulty bottle packaging units and minimizing the time between when a shrinkwrapping fault is discovered and when an adjustment is made to fix the shrinkwrapping fault and fixing the shrinkwrapping fault, said method comprising the steps of:
- wrapping a first bottle packaging unit of a first size with shrinkwrap material in a shrink wrapping machine;
- transporting said wrapped first bottle packaging unit to a shrink tunnel and applying heat to the shrinkwrap material while moving said wrapped first bottle packaging unit through said shrink tunnel;
- shrinking the shrinkwrap material wrapped around said first bottle packaging unit;
- changing at least one of:
- the size of said bottle packaging unit, the format of said bottle packaging unit, a supply of said shrinkwrap material, and a type of shrinkwrap material;
- wrapping, with shrinkwrap material, a second bottle packaging unit in said shrink wrapping machine after changing at least one of:
- the size of said bottle packaging unit, the format of said bottle packaging unit, a supply of said first shrinkwrap material, and a type of shrinkwrap material;
- transporting said wrapped second bottle packaging unit to said shrink tunnel and applying heat to the shrinkwrap material while moving said wrapped second bottle packaging unit through said shrink tunnel;
- shrinking the shrinkwrap material wrapped around said second bottle packaging unit;
- observing, with at least two cameras, which at least two cameras comprise:
- a first camera being disposed at the entrance of said shrink tunnel and being configured and disposed to observe the wrapping on said bottle packaging units coming from said shrink wrapping machine before entering said shrink tunnel before and during the entrance of said bottle packaging units into said shrink tunnel;
- a second camera being disposed at the exit of said shrink tunnel and being configured and disposed to observe the result of said shrinking of the shrinkwrap material wrapped around said second bottle packaging unit exiting said shrink tunnel during the exit of said bottle packaging units from said shrink tunnel;
- and
- a third camera being disposed in said shrink tunnel and being configured and disposed to observe the shrinking of said wrapping on said bottle packaging units within said shrink tunnel during the transit of said bottle packaging units through said shrink tunnel;
- and
- determining, from said observing, any shrinkwrapping resultant faults including at least one of:
- improper wrapping of said bottle packaging unit by said shrink wrapping machine;
- the sealing of overlapping segments of said shrinkwrap material;
- the inflation of said shrinkwrap material over formed lateral shrink holes;
- and
- the initiation of the shrinking process;
- upon determining a shrinkwrapping fault, adjusting at least one of said shrink wrapping machine and said shrink tunnel to initiate adjusting and correcting of said shrinkwrapping fault and to minimize wastage of shrinkwrap material and to minimize rewrapping bottle packaging units and to minimize the time between when a shrinkwrapping fault is discovered and when an adjustment is made to fix the shrinkwrapping fault and when the shrinkwrapping fault is fixed;
- wrapping a third bottle packaging unit, substantially immediately subsequent to said adjusting, of at least one of said shrink wrapping machine and said shrink tunnel, relating to said second bottle packaging unit, in said shrink wrapping machine after changing at least one of:
- the size of said bottle packaging unit, the format of said bottle packaging unit, a supply of said shrinkwrap material, and a type of shrinkwrap material prior to said second bottle packaging unit being wrapped and shrunk;
- transporting said wrapped third bottle packaging unit to said shrink tunnel and applying heat to the shrinkwrap material while moving said wrapped third bottle packaging unit through said shrink tunnel;
- shrinking the shrinkwrap material wrapped around said third bottle packaging unit;
- observing, with said at least two cameras, the wrapping, the shrinking, and result of said shrinking of the shrinkwrap material wrapped around said third bottle packaging unit during at least one of:
- entrance into said shrink tunnel, transit through said shrink tunnel, and exit from said shrink tunnel;
- determining, from said observing, any shrinkwrapping resultant faults including at least one of:
- improper wrapping of said bottle packaging unit by said shrink wrapping machine;
- the sealing of overlapping segments of said shrinkwrap material;
- the inflation of said shrinkwrap material over formed lateral shrink holes;
- and
- the initiation of the shrinking process;
- upon determining a shrinkwrapping fault, readjusting at least one of said shrink wrapping machine and said shrink tunnel to initiate adjusting and correcting said shrinkwrapping fault and to minimize wastage of shrinkwrap material and to minimize rewrapping bottle packaging units and to minimize the time between when a shrinkwrapping fault is discovered and when an adjustment is made to fix the shrinkwrapping fault and when the shrinkwrapping fault is fixed;
- and
- continuing said steps of observing and adjusting subsequent bottle packaging units until said bottle packaging units are substantially free of shrinkwrapping faults such that wastage of shrinkwrap material, rewrapping of bottle packaging units, and the time between when a shrinkwrapping fault is discovered and when an adjustment is made to fix the shrinkwrapping fault and fixing the shrinkwrapping fault is minimized.