First Step To A Packaging Solution - Information Gathering

At Liquid Packaging Solutions, requests often come in asking for the price of a certain machine, or the price of a packaging line for a certain product. From time to time there seems to be a sense of frustration when those requests are not immediately answered with a number. But from single machines to complete lines, there are a multitude of factors that can affect the efficiency and the cost of machinery.

For instance, capping machines can range from a simple, handheld device to a multi-head, automatic bottle capper with a power conveyor and cap delivery system. In between these two extremes exist literally hundreds of different versions of a capper, including custom engineered machinery. In addition, some capping machines may require certain options or even change parts when, or if, the size and shape of the closures vary greatly. So a request for a price on a capping machine might be followed up with questions about cap sizes, production speed and even the type of cap if not specified, as different machines are made for different closures.

The more information that can be gathered up front about the needs of a company , the more accurately the best machine for the project can be identified. The process is important for nearly every type of packaging machine, but some even more so than others. When dealing with capping machines, the two main components are closures and bottles. A budgetary quote can often be given with just that information, along with an idea of the speed with which a company would like to seal bottles. Filling machinery can bring in an even wider number of variations, however. Multiple products, fill sizes, flammability, speed and more. Even bottle sizes can be important in that containers must be kept stable for the fill! Does the product foam? Change viscosity with temperature? Set so that it needs to be heated when being filled? And pricing for filling machines can vary even more than that of capping equipment. Simple, single-head tabletop machines filling free-flowing product will not fill nearly as many bottles as a 16 head automatic filling machine controlled by a PLC and a touchscreen interface.

As you can imagine, putting rinsers, fillers, capping machines, conveyors and more on a single line results in even more variety! Whether packaging a handful of items a week or thousands of bottles a day, LPS equipment can make the process consistent and reliable. So when searching for packaging machinery, or even quotes on packaging machinery, the more information provided at the beginning, the better to start the search for the ideal solution!