Packaging Machinery Versatility the Key for Contract Packagers

There are a number of reasons that a company may choose to use a contract packager for thier product.  Start up companies may not be ready to invest in their own packaging equipment.  Larger companies may be testing a new product or package and may not want to disturb their normal production with the short runs.  Some companies simply may not have the staff or the expertise required to run the packaging machinery.  For a variety of reasons, contract packagers often create valuable and efficient alternatives to in house packaging of a product.  Of course, in order to provide assistance, the contract packager must have the necessary packaging equipment to get a job done.  The difficulty for the contract packager is that new products and inquiries come in all the time, but no two products will be packaged the same.  As purchasing new packaging equipment for each contract received would be far from cost efficient, contract packagers look to machinery that is versatile enough to handle a range of products, containers and caps.

Container cleaning equipment can be a necessary component of a packaging system, but even where not required, it may be desired by some companies.  Container cleaning equipment consists of bottle rinsers and washers that will remove dust and debris from containers before the filling process, helping guard against product contamination.  Inverting rinsing machines and inline bottle vacuums can be adjusted to handle a wide range of bottle sizes, and both can normally clean both plastic and glass.  As the rinse occurs before the fill, product is not normally a consideration with these machines, though when rinsing with water or other cleansing liquid, contamination should always be taken into account.  

Liquid filling equipment is not quite as easy as the container cleaning equipment.  Different filling machines provide different benefits, depending on the needs and wants of the owner of the product.  Overflow fillers provide level fills, which is often a huge benefit for those packaging in clear containers.  Pump and piston fillers, however, can handle a wider range of product viscosities than the overflow filler or a gravity filler.  The work that a contract packager can take will often be limited by the type of filling equipment the packager has in house.  For this reason, it would not be unusual for a contract packager to house more than one type of liquid filler.  In addition, a contract packager may specialize in a specific industry or type of product.  In some circumstances this allows the packager to narrow down the filling equipment that will be necessary for most of the jobs procured.

Most capping machines can also handle a wide range of caps, though usually only of a certain type.  Given that the screw cap is still more popular than any other type of cap, spindle capping machines are a popular tool for contract packagers.  These packaging machines can place and tighten almost any screw type cap, from normal flat caps to sports caps, flip-tops and more.  The machines are normally easy to change over from one cap to another, allowing for variations in height and width with little downtime.  Spindle cappers can also be combined with a snap capping machine for an even greater range of capping.  Snap cappers will normally use a belt or press-on head to seal containers.  Of course, other cap types exist, such as crown caps, ROPP caps and even custom manufactured unique caps.  Again the capping machines used by the contract packager will to some extent define the contracts they can and cannot accept.

Contract packagers can actually expand their business simply by purchasing the proper packaging machinery.  The more versatile the machinery, the more contracts open to that particular packager.  Whether serving a small region or a global industry, a contract packager should choose wisely when setting up a packaging line.