6/7/2020 Packaging machinery - Wikipedia

Packaging machinery
Packaging machinery is used throughout all packaging
operations, involving primary packages to distribution
packs. This includes many packaging processes:
fabrication, cleaning, filling, sealing, combining, labeling,
overwrapping, palletizing.

Contents
Overview
Automation Equipment on a pharmaceutical packaging line
Choosing packaging machinery
Types of machinery
Function
Gallery
See also
References
Books, general references

Overview
An aerosol packaging line
Some packaging operations cannot be accomplished
without packaging equipment. For example many
packages include heat seals to prepare or seal a package. Heat sealers are needed, even in slow labor-
intensive operations.

With many industries, the effectiveness of the heat seal is critical to product safety so the heat sealing
operation must closely controlled with documented Verification and validation protocols. Food, drug,
and medical regulations require consistent seals on packages. Proper equipment is needed.

Automation
Packaging operations can be designed for variable package sizes and forms or for handling only uniform
packages, where the machinery or packaging line is adjustable between production runs. Certainly slow
manual operations allow workers to be flexible to package variation but also some automated lines can
handle significant random variation.[1]

Moving from manual operations, through semi-automatic operations to fully automated packaging lines
offers advantages to some packagers. Other than the obvious control of labor costs, quality can be more
consistent, and throughput can be optimized.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packaging_machinery 1/6
6/7/2020 Packaging machinery - Wikipedia

Efforts at packaging line automation increasingly use

programmable logic controllers [3] and robotics.[4]

Large fully automatic packaging lines can involve several

pieces of major equipment from different manufactures as
well as conveyors and ancillary equipment. Integrating
such systems can be a challenge. Often consultants or
external engineering firms are used to coordinate large
projects.

Choosing packaging machinery

Beer bottling lines
Choosing packaging machinery includes an assessment of
technical capabilities, labor requirements, worker safety,
maintainability, serviceability, reliability, ability to
integrate into the packaging line, capital cost, floorspace, flexibility (change-over, materials, multiple
products, etc.), energy requirements, quality of outgoing packages, qualifications (for food,
pharmaceuticals, etc.), throughput, efficiency, productivity, ergonomics, return on investment, etc.

Packaging machinery can be:

1. purchased as standard, off-the-shelf equipment

2. purchased custom-made or custom-tailored to specific operations
3. purchased refurbished and upgraded
4. manufactured or modified by in-house engineers and maintenance staff

In addition to purchasing equipment, leasing options are often

attractive.[5]

Some industries must perform periodic washdown s of all

equipment. This high pressure chemical washing puts special
demands on machinery and control systems.[6] [7] Condensation
within closed portions of machinery can also be problematic.

Machinery needs to keep control of the product being packaged. For Double chamber vacuum packer
example, powders need to be stable, liquids cannot slosh out[8] , etc.

Some manufacturers decide not to do their own packaging but to employ contract packagers to perform
all or some operations. Capital, labor, and other costs are outsourced.

Types of machinery
Packaging machines may be of the following general types:

Accumulating and collating machines

Blister packs, skin packs and vacuum packaging machines
Bottle caps equipment, over-capping, lidding, closing, seaming and sealing machines
Box, case, tray, and carrier forming, packing, unpacking, closing, and sealing machines
Cartoning machines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packaging_machinery 2/6
6/7/2020 Packaging machinery - Wikipedia

Cleaning, sterilizing, cooling and drying machines

Coding, printing, marking, stamping, and imprinting machines
Converting machines
Conveyor belts, accumulating and related machines
Feeding, orienting, placing and related machines
Filling machines: handling dry, powdered, solid, liquid, gas, or viscous products
Inspecting: visual, sound, metal detecting, etc.
Label dispensers, printers, and applicators
Orienting, unscrambling machines
Package filling and closing machines
Palletizing, depalletizing, unit load assembly
Product identification: labeling, marking, etc.
Sealing machines: heat sealer, tape, or glue units
Security seals, tamper-evident bands, etc equipment
Slitting machines, perforating, etc
Strapping machines, banding machines, etc.
Weighing machines: check weigher, multihead weigher
Wrapping machines: flowwrapping, stretch wrapping, shrink wrap
Form, fill and seal machines, bags, pouches
Other specialty machinery: slitters, laser cutters, parts attachment, etc.

Function
Packaging is necessary to protect products, and is now done mainly through the use of packaging
machinery. Machinery plays increasingly important roles such as:

Improve labor productivity. Sliding blister sealing machine packaging machinery is much faster than
manual packaging. One good example of this is the candy packing machine. Here, hundreds to
thousands of candies can be wrapped in minutes.
Ensure packaging quality. Mechanical packaging is particularly important for exported goods to
achieve consistent packaging.
Handle specialized requirements, such as vacuum packaging, inflatable packaging, skin packaging
and pressure filling.
Reduce labor and improve working conditions for bulky/heavy products.
Protect workers from health effects brought by dust, toxic/hazardous products and prevent
environmental contamination.
Reduce packaging costs and save storage costs for loose products, such as cotton, tobacco, silk,
linen, etc., by simply using compression packaging.
Reliably ensure product hygiene by eliminating hand contact with food and medicines.

Gallery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packaging_machinery 3/6
6/7/2020 Packaging machinery - Wikipedia

Bakery goods High speed conveyor Label printer applicator Robots used to palletize
shrinkwrapped by with stationary bar applying a label to bread
shrink film, heat sealer code scanner for adjacent panels of a
and heat tunnel on sorting corrugated box.
roller conveyor

Automatic stretch Equipment used for making

wrapping machine molded pulp components A semi-automatic rotary
and molding packaging arm stretch wrapper
from straw[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packaging_machinery 4/6
6/7/2020 Packaging machinery - Wikipedia

Equipment for thermoforming Automated labeling line for Shrink film wrap being applied
packages at NASA wine bottles on PET bottles

Filling Automatic
machinery Strapping
for bag-in- Machine
box

See also
Cobot
Hazard analysis and critical control points
Material-handling equipment
Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute
Packaging Machinery Technology
Queueing theory
SCADA

References
1. US6522945B2 (https://patents.google.com/patent/US6522945B2/en), Sleep, "Customer specific
packaging line", published 2003
2. Riley, S (February 24, 2017). "How much automation do you really need on your packaging line?" (ht
tps://www.packagingdigest.com/automation/how-much-automation-do-you-really-need-on-your-pack
aging-line-2017-02-24). Packaging Digest. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
3. ZHAO (2011). "Design of PLC Control System of New Type Carton Packaging Machine" (http://en.cn
ki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-QGJX201103020.htm). Light Industry Machinery. 3. Retrieved
January 5, 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packaging_machinery 5/6
6/7/2020 Packaging machinery - Wikipedia

4. Mahalik, N P (2009). "Processing and packaging automation systems: a review" (https://s3.amazona

ws.com/academia.edu.documents/7314210/Processing%20and%20packaging%20automation%20re
view.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DProcessing_and_packaging_aut
omation_syst.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2
Y53UL3A%2F20190803%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190803T114420Z
&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=40d39b426d6e5dd26a1b6c
ead4693b8807a18fc97d899ef9640b0f430427cf5d) (PDF). Sens. & Instrumen. Food Qual. 3: 12–25.
Retrieved March 23, 2019.
5. Mergeanian, V (November 9, 2018). "How smart equipment financing helps packaging operations
compete" (https://www.packagingdigest.com/automation/how-smart-equipment-financing-helps-pack
aging-operations-compete-2018-11-09). Packaging Digest. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
6. US6455017B1 (https://patents.google.com/patent/US6455017B1/en), Kasting, "Method and mobile
apparatus for washdown and sanitizing", published 2002
7. US7042124B2 (https://patents.google.com/patent/US7042124B2/en), Puterbaugh, "Electric motors
for washdown, food processing, and chemical applications", published 2006
8. Grundelius; Bernhardsson (1999). Control of Liquid Slosh in an Industrial Packaging Machine (http
s://www.researchgate.net/publication/3823261_Control_of_Liquid_Slosh_in_an_Industrial_Packagin
g_Machine). IEEE International Conference on Control Applications. IEEE.
doi:10.1109/CCA.1999.801220 (https://doi.org/10.1109%2FCCA.1999.801220). Retrieved January 5,
2019.
9. Wood, Marcia (April 2002). "Leftover Straw Gets New Life" (http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/a
pr02/straw0402.htm). Agricultural Research.

Books, general references

Yam, K.L., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-
08704-6
Soroka, W, Illustrated Glossary of Packaging Terminology Institute of Packaging Professionals, [1] (h
ttps://www.iopp.org/i4a/ams/amsstore/category.cfm?category_id=13)
Soroka, W, "Fundamentals of Packaging Technology", Chapter 19 – Packaging Machinery, IoPP,
2002, ISBN 1-930268-25-4
Henry J R, "Packaging Machinery Handbook", 2012, ISBN 1479274518
Kay, M.G., 2012, Material Handling Equipment (http://www.ise.ncsu.edu/kay/Material_Handling_Equi
pment.pdf), Retrieved 2014-10-02.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Packaging_machinery&oldid=960436633"

This page was last edited on 2 June 2020, at 23:44 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site,
you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a
non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packaging_machinery 6/6