Craftmate is a modularised volumetric model with 24 filling valves, and as a stand-alone machine in ‘its own right’.

It features a pitch circle diameter of 1,080 millimetres and is claimed to be suitable for a number of brewery sizes.

The machine has been designed for filling cans in the standard 211/202 format, but can also be equipped to handle the 204/202 to 300/209 formats.

Depending on volume and product parameters involved, the Craftmate’s output lies between 6,000 and 18,000 cans per hour.

According to Krones, the new machine means a filler can now, for the first time, be operated without a lifting cam, which reduces the number of components while facilitating access to the machine.

They added: “In order to minimise the transportation costs, the development people at Krones have also made sure that the Craftmate, together with the seamer, can be shipped in a sea container.

“The user thus receives a machine that is “out of the box” for first-time brewers. For more extensive requirements in the higher output range, the familiar Krones can fillers from the existing families are available.”