For old and new packagers alike, automating a packaging process can be a daunting task. On top of the economic concerns, the packager will need to work with machinery manufacturers to find the best solution for their project, given the products and packages being used, the amount of space available, the production demands and other factors. In a perfect world, all packagers would simply set up a fully automated line from day one, but in our world, automation often comes in steps. The question then, is how does a packager know which components of a system to automate first?
The usually unanticipated answer to this question is it depends. A more definitive answer does exist for any given project, but before that answer can be reached, the project itself must be analyzed. In other words, in some situations it will make more sense to automate a filling machine first, while in others it may be a bottle capper or labeling machinery.
As an example, lets imagine a start up company that is bottling spring water using a five gallon container and a fairly simple snap on cap. Now imagine these two tasks being done by hand. The amount of time taken to fill a five gallon bottle by hand is much longer than the amount of time taken to snap a cap into place on the filled bottle. The analysis is pretty simple in our example. The best choice for the water bottler would be to automate the filling machine and use manual labor to snap caps on bottles once the fill is complete. This change will add efficiency to the packaging process and allow more bottles to be packaged in a shorter period of time.
To further illustrate, we can look at the inverse of the above example. Imagine a company filling average sized containers with a cleaning solution.
However the closure consists of a tall, threaded screw on cap. While the filling may still be somewhat time consuming in this situation, it will significantly decrease from the five gallon bottle fill time. Capping, on the other hand, will take more time, as each cap must not only be placed, but screwed down tightly to create the seal. In addition, when tightening screw on caps by hand, there is a danger of cross threading, under-tightening or over-tightening, as well as repetitive motion injuries to those continually applying caps. The final analysis in this type of situation points to the capping machine as the better solution for the first step in automating the packaging line.
Keep in mind that the above examples are simplified analyises. There are literally hundreds of different factors that can play a part in choosing which components on a packaging line to automate and when the automation should take place. There are also steps between hand packaging and automatic machinery, including tabletop equipment and even semi-automatic machines that can be converted to automatic processing at a later date. Automating one or two components at a time can allow your packaging process to grow with your product popularity, but a complete analysis should always be done to both choose the correct equipment and the correct automation level.
For More Info:-
