Shear-ly Good Wrapper For Black Sheep Brewery!

Yorkshire Packaging Systems, the leading UK supplier of flexible wrapping solutions, are delighted to announce the installation of a turntable pallet wrapping machine at the world-famous Black Sheep Brewery in Masham.

Black Sheep Brewery craft the finest independent beers, bitters and IPAs from their rural and picturesque home in the heart of North Yorkshire. Born and bred in Masham, Founder Paul Theakston hails from a long generation of family brewers but is not afraid to be bold, eclectic and innovative under the Black Sheep label. Themed ales, fruity beers and chocolate stouts all join his famous classic bitters (‘Black Sheep Ale’ holds the title of No 1 bottled ale from Yorkshire) in the line-up of popular Black Sheep beverages. In their own words, the Black Sheep journey was forged through ‘Yorkshire grit and determination’, meaning that ‘quality and consistency are top of the agenda’ for this pioneering and successful brewery.

Quality and consistency is where YPS and The Black Sheep Brewery align perfectly. When the firm needed to complete their new turnkey packaging operation, they turned to YPS for a high-quality solution that would deliver consistent wrapping results and YPS were ready to assist. With a new bottling line already in place, including tray erector loaders, shrink wrapping machinery and a palletiser, the Brewery needed to round off the project with a robust stretch wrapping unit and were looking for a fast installation to commence production as soon as possible.

YPS supplied a robust and reliable turntable stretch wrapping machine manufactured by Robopac, which more than met the brewery’s speed requirements of 5 pallets an hour. It boasted a power pre-stretch film carriage to maximise the yield from each roll of stretch film and improve the load containment force for each-and-every pallet. A pump truck ramp was also supplied to ensure easy and safe loading of product onto the turntable. The equipment was delivered and commissioned in less than one month from the date of initial enquiry and has been preparing consistently wrapped pallets of trayed bottles, cans and casks for transit ever since. A service visit and extended 36 month parts warranty was also included to keep the unit running at peak performance for years to come.

Robert Theakston, Managing Director of Black Sheep Brewery stated ‘YPS were prompt, efficient and professional from the outset, understanding our time-sensitive requirement. We have significantly reduced damage to our bottles during transportation since utilising the new pallet wrapper, much to the appreciation of our customers across the UK and as far around the globe as New Zealand and South Korea.’

Larne Patrick, YPS Sales Director added ‘I’m thrilled that we were able to cater to Black Sheep’s high standards with this pallet wrapping solution. It’s of the utmost importance that these delicious beverages are fully protected from damage during delivery so that more people can enjoy them far and wide – I’m a huge fan myself!’

www.yps.co.uk