Winery automation in Northeast Israel

Technology knows no borders, as seen in the automated, modern winery packaging in Golan Heights, Israel. Motion controls, robotics, and automated packaging were among the highlights at this tourist stop.

By Frank J Bartos, PE, Control Engineering, retired August 22, 2018

Winery motion and temperature controls, robotics, and automated packaging served as modern contrast to other sites in the Golan Heights in Northeast Israel, with a rich history dating back to antiquity. Populated by various civilizations since ancient times, some winemaking has surely taken place all along, but nothing like the industry that has developed in the past 35 years. Favorable volcanic basaltic soil plus varied topography and climate make the region ideal for growing a variety of grapes. Parts of the Golan were captured by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed. Syria considers the area to be its territory.

One example of modern winemaking in the region is Golan Heights Winery (GHW) at Katzrin, seen during a recent, non-business visit to Israel. Founded in 1983, GHW has been a leader in the current development of Israeli wines and the enhancement of their international image. The surprises were location and modernity of the facility.

Topography of the Golan allows siting vineyards over a range of altitudes from 400 to 1,200 m (1,300-3,900 ft) in a south to north direction. Wide temperature range over the relatively small area allows growing many grape varieties—currently 13 red, 7 white—noted Shalom Aronzon, an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide, who serves as Kashrut supervisor at GHW. (Kashrut refers to the practice of Jewish dietary laws.)

Grape varieties range from Gewürztraminer and Riesling in the north of Golan to Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc in the south, according to Aronzon. The production concept at Golan Heights Winery is a quick transit from the vineyard to the winery. "It can be as short as 30 minutes to bring grapes to the winery," he said.

The tour of the facility featured the winemaking process from aging the wines in barrels in a computer-controlled temperature environment to an automated bottling line. Some 8,200 oak barrels are used for aging, about 85% of them are an expensive French oak. Aging varies from 2 to 8 months for white wines and 6 months to 3 years for red varieties, Aronzon said.

The 50,000 bottle-per-day (bpd) capacity bottling line at GHW brought back fond memories of prior automation equipment reporting for Control Engineering. The technology was still familiar, but the locale was entirely different. Various brands of packaging systems—Keber bottling machine, Kosme adhesive labeler—ABB ac variable-speed drives for powering the conveyor line, and a Yaskawa Motoman robot palletizer were evident in the plant layout.

After the corking station, the bottles are turned over and transported upside down for some distance along the processing line to allow wine to wet the corks for sealing the bottles. A wrapper station is the last step in the process.

About 30% of the wines produced at Golan Heights Winery is exported to 32 countries worldwide. The perception of Israeli wines has changed a lot.

Frank J Bartos, PE, retired, is a former Control Engineering executive editor and consulting editor. braunbart@sbcglobal.net. Edited by Mark T. Hoske, content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media, mhoske@cfemedia.com.

KEYWORDS: Winery automation, robotic palletizing

Winery packaging machines connect with conveyor line, palletizer robot.

Variable-speed drives (VSDs) power the conveyors.

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ONLINE extra

www.golanwines.co.il/en/the-winery 

www.abb.com/drives 

www.kosme.com/en/home.php 

www.motoman.com 

www.arpack.fr/en/equipment/314-encaisseuses-occasion/31439-encaisseuse-occasion-keber/