One of our main lines of work here at OB Engineering is manufacturing, maintaining and repairing filling machines, we decided to give a brief insight into what filling machines are and what the benefits are to manufacturing businesses to have filling machines in their production line.
What are filling machines
Filling machines are machines used to fill product into a chosen container such as a tube, bottle, bag or pouch, there are various types of filling machines, and they can be manual, semi-automatic or fully automated. There are many types of filling machines that can handle different types of products including pastes, powders, solids, liquids and granular items. Because these machines are versatile and efficient they are used across the manufacturing sector in industries such as chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and the food and beverage industries.
Different types of filling machines
Filling machine’s that we have experience with include liquid filling machines, aerosol filling machines, powder filling machines, hot fill machines, tube filling machines, vacuum filling machines and capsule filling machines. These machines can be single nozzle or have multiple nozzles for filling. Choosing the one best suited to your needs would depend on the material that is being filled, the speed required, if the product is frozen, dry or hot, what the product is being placed in and finally the volume required.
Benefits of filling machines
This is not an exhausted list of advantages for such machines, but these are the ones we at OB Engineering witness daily and have received from customer feedback.
Reliable and consistent: Filling machines allow for repeat tasks to be performed with consistency and reliability, the machine is programmed to fill the chosen container with the exact volume of the product every time, it greatly reduces error with product quantity and increases product reliability.
Higher level of production: Filling machines greatly increases the speed in which the product is filled into the chosen container. Conveyors are used to move the container down the line where it will be filled by a singular or multiple nozzles and sealed before being moved down the line to be packaged. All these steps speed up and reduce the amount of manpower needed to produce the final product.
Versatile: Filling machines can be designed, restructured and upgraded to handle a range of products and containers. This versatility allows companies to get the filling machine that best suits their needs and product which maximises their production.
Decreased manpower: As previously mentioned these machines can be completely automatic or semi-automatic greatly decreasing personnel needed to monitor or run these machines, freeing up staff for other jobs and projects.
Increased hygiene and safety standards: With automatic filling machines being programmed to fill each bottle with the same volume, to stop production if a malfunction occurs and requires little to no personnel involvement both safety standards for employees and hygiene standards for the factory increases, this is hugely beneficial for industries such as pharmaceutical and food and beverage.
Conclusion
To conclude filling machines are essential pieces of equipment in many factories over many different industries. It is vital that these machines are well maintained, fit for task and are beneficial to the company. If you have any queries around our work or about setting up or upgrading an existing machine, please feel free to contact us anytime at info@obdesignandenginerring.com or 087 090 0977
