Overview:
Walker Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (WAMIC)’s high-precision metrology capabilities enabled fast, evidence-based troubleshooting. By eliminating the caps and bottles as sources of the problem, the winery could focus efforts on the bottling line, saving time, reducing waste, and preventing further quality issues.
Jackson-Triggs Estate winery is home to a collection of award-winning wines, elevated tours, events, and an amphitheatre which hosts an annual summer concert series, featuring top Canadian artists.
On the winemaking side, they encountered a quality control issue during bottling, where the entire screwcap detached from the bottle. Screwcaps begin as a single perforated capsule that should split into a skirt and threaded cap when opened.
The crimping process, which secures the cap to the neck of the bottle, was not working properly, and the caps were not sealing.
Detailed dimensional drawing of the wine bottle and screwcaps.
The winery partnered with WAMIC to identify the source of the sealing failure.
WAMIC conducted precision dimensional analysis on the screwcaps to confirm whether they met the manufacturer’s specifications, which they did. Next, WAMIC measured the wine bottles themselves, again verifying they were within tolerance.
The issue was ultimately traced to the bottling line: the crimping mechanism was not applying sufficient pressure during the sealing process.
