2023 Packaging Machinery Wrap Up from Liquid Packaging Solutions
As we move into the last week of 2023, Liquid Packaging Solutions looks back on the trends of the last year as they were reflected on our production floor and through our interactions with packagers both new and old. The past year saw the manufacture of many familiar machines, with a trend up in a couple pieces of equipment over previous years.
Filling Machines
One of the most produced pieces of packaging equipment at LPS is the filling machine, and 2023 was no different as the LaPorte, Indiana production crew prepared fillers for a wide variety of projects. The overflow filler remained a popular option in 2023, with a number of distillers and other beverage producers opting for the fill-to level offered by this liquid filling machine. However, other options made a number of appearances as well, including gravity fillers for chemicals and pump and piston filling machines for various food products. LPS expects to build each of these filler types again in 2024 as the machines each meet the needs of different liquid products.
Capping Machines
2023 saw an increase in interest for ROPP capping machines, as more packagers are looking for tamper evident sealing and taking advantage of the versatility of using aluminum blanks on a range of bottle types. Even with this increase, however, LPS produced more spindle cappers in 2023 simply due to the popularity of the screw-on type closure. Both spindle cappers and chuck capping machines can handle continuous thread caps, which may include flat caps found on bottled water and other beverages, or may take the form of trigger sprayers, pumps, sports caps and more. With the screw-on type closure likely to remain popular in the foreseeable future for a range of products, the spindle capping machine will undoubtedly be hard to unseat as the most popular capping machine at LPS in 2024.
Bottle Rinsing
The past year saw packagers use both wet and air rinsing machines as container cleaning solutions on packaging lines. However, there does seem to exist a trend toward air rinsing machines, which produce less waste than their counterparts that use water, product or other liquids to rinse bottles. LPS also produced several bottle vacuums in 2023, removing the need to invert bottles during the rinse process. The bottle vacuums are most often used with heavy or oddly shaped bottles that are not easily inverted. While not every packaging line will take advantage of bottle rinsers, LPS expects the production floor to produce air, wet and vacuum type rinsers again in the coming year.
Loading and Cooling Conveyors
Along with the regular conveyor systems that move product between the different packaging machines, LPS produced a number of both loading and cooling conveyors in 2023. Loading conveyors offer an alternative to unscramblers and turntables by providing a loading table at the front of a multi-lane conveyor that feeds bottles to the main conveyor system. Operators can easily load bulk containers into adjustable lanes to keep the machinery running and the process as a whole efficient.
Cooling conveyors have taken on a serpentine shape this year, with both single and multiple level machines produced. These machines allow molten or hot products to cool prior to the sealing process, ensuring no damage comes to the product or the container. While not the most popular packaging machine produced by LPS, they are a recurring project for LPS from year to year.
Of course, these are the trends experienced by LPS, based on our customers and packagers, and not meant to be an overall trend for the packaging industry. As we move into 2024, the trends may change based on LPS established customers and the new projects taken on in the coming year! For packagers that would like more information on any of the machinery above, or those that would simply like to learn more about packaging machinery in general, LPS can be reached at 1-219-393-3600.