Packaging Machines, Filling Machines and Packaging Equipment

Packaging machines and packaging machinery is used to package products or components like bottles, cans, tins or any other filled container into packaging materials.

This is including filling and packaging equipment that forms, fills, seals, wraps, cleans and packages at different levels of automation. Examples of such packaging machines may be Filling machines, Labeling machines, forming machines and even shrink wrapping or tray packaging machinery. Packaging machines and filling and packaging machinery also includes machines that supplement packaging machines such as sorting, filling, accumulating, labeling, and counting machines.

There are many specific types of packaging machines on the market and used within the packaging industry. Some suppliers of packaging machines do offer integration services for these machines. They will help the purchaser of the machine to integrate the device into an existing supply line, or in general help set the piece of equipment into a factory.

A common expression within the filling and packaging industry for such machinery is called form, fill, and seal. But it would better say: form, fill, seal and pack or forming, filling, sealing, packing and palletizing.

Accumulators gather goods or items prior to processing. Batching machines prepare a quantity of material for processing or packaging. Bagging machines place a product in a bag, pouch, or sack.

Banding machines and sleeving machines or sleevers secure products together by placing a band or sleeve around them. Bundling machines form goods into piles and then band or wrap.

Capping machines place, snap, or screw caps onto containers. Cartoning machines or so called cartoners create cartons or boxes for packaging.

Closing machines and sealing machines close multiple types of packages. Cleaning machines sanitize containers or packaging devices. Collating machines collate, package or assemble products in proper numerical or logical order.

Combining machines or so called combiners are used within the packaging industry in order to form containers into a single line to prepare them for filling or other packaging operations. Counting machines count product before, during or after a process. Decorating machines decorate packages.

Filling machines and packer machines are amongst the most frequently used packaging machines, especially within the food packaging and beverage packaging industries. They fill bags, bottles, cans, etc., with a predetermined volume of product, such as food, beverages, beer, wine, spirits, cosmetics, medicine, etc.

Fill and seal machines fill bags, bottles, trays, cans, etc., with a predetermined volume of product and then seal them. Form, fill and seal machines are packaging machines that use heat sealable flexible plastic packaging film to form a package, which is then filled, and heat-sealed and cut off. Forming machines are used to form containers or packages.

Inspection machines review products for blemishes, leaks, consistency or types. Typical tasks for inspection machines can be found in the field of automated quality control within the packaging industry. Applications are fill height controls and fill level inspections, leakage controls, label inspection, cap and closure detection, empty bottle inspection machines to just mention a few.

Label applicators are machines used to dispense, apply, or print and apply labels to packages. Marking machines print or ink product information on packages.

After the main packaging process done by the packaging machines we often find the palletising or palletizing equipment. Palletisers or palletizers place goods on pallets in an orderly fashion. Pallet dispensers hold a number of pallets and dispense them on demand.

Depalletizers on the other hand remove goods from full packed pallets in an orderly fashion. Unloading machines remove product or goods from packaging. Sealing machines use film to wrap and secure a product.

Shrink machines or shrink packaging machines apply heat to plastic shrink foils a plastic wrapper around a product. Strapping machines and banding machines strap or band product. Sorting machines are used to divide groups of dissimilar products into the proper order.

Vacuum chamber machines are a kind of packaging machine that package a product under vacuum. Wrapping machines range from small manual hand stretch wrappers to sophisticated automated wrapping stations.

Packaging machinery can process a number of different items. The goods packaged include liquid, powder or granular, consumer packaging, and bulk or OEM packaging.

The packaging types handled by packaging machinery are aerosol containers, bags and pouches, blister packs, bottles and jars, cartons and boxes, cans, capsules, cartridges, cases, cups and trays, drums, kegs and pails, pallets and IBCs, tubes, and vials. Closing methods available on packaging machinery include caps and lids, cork, glue, heat seals, nails or staples, tamper evident or resistant, tape, tuck and fold, and wrapped.

Industries served by packaging machinery include not only the typical food and packaging industry, but also automotive, chemical and petrochemical, cosmetics and perfumery, electronics and semiconductor, food and food service, garment, household product, medical, military, music, video and software, pharmaceutical, stationary, and tobacco.

The rate that the filling and packaging machine can produce the product is an important specification when looking at packaging machinery. The packaging speed of filling and packaging machines and packaging machinery is usually represented as pieces per minute or packages per hour.

Packaging machinery can have manual, semi-automatic or automatic packaging operation. Features common to packaging machinery and packaging machines include aseptic or sanitary filling, feeder included, portable, processor interface, and stainless steel construction.