How Does Automatic Capping Help a Business Meet Demand?

For companies producing thousands of products every day, not only is meeting demand an important task, but this task must be completed while keeping the product safe and secure. Automatic capping machinery from Liquid Packaging Solutions helps to increase production speed and efficiency while also offering consistent, precise and safe bottle sealing.

Increases Speed of Production

From spindle cappers for screw-on type closures to ROPP capping machines for aluminum blanks, automatic capping machines help to increase the speed of bottle sealing by using a cap delivery system and removing the need for an operator to tighten each individual closure. The cap delivery system allows the operator of an in line packaging system to load bulk caps into a hopper or bowl. Either an elevator, vibratory bowl, or sorting bowl will then deliver properly oriented caps to a cap chute. From the cap chute, each individual bottle will receive a single cap before the closure is tightened, pressed, or otherwise secured to the bottle. Typically, bottles will be sealed as they move down a conveyor, though some applications may use a different form of bottle movement, such as star wheel indexing for smaller containers. The automatic movement of bottles combined with the automatic delivery of caps allows the machine to continuously cap containers without excessive operator interaction, increasing the speed of the production line.

Increases Consistency and Precision

Relying on manual labor to seal containers requires a packager to take factors such as fatigue, repetitive motion injuries, or just plain boredom into account. Human beings can become distracted or tired throughout the production day, leading to under-tightened caps, cross-threads and other issues. Capping machines not only increase speed, but maximize consistency and precision in the bottle sealing process. Automatic bottle cappers will seal the first bottle of the production run in the same manner as the last bottle of the production run, regardless of the number of bottles to be capped. Adding an automatic bottle capping machine to your in line packaging system ensures that each bottle and cap are tightened to the same torque, snapped down with the same pressure, or otherwise prepared in the same manner, depending on the type of capping machine put in place.

Reduces Labor Costs

Hand capping thousands of bottles a day would require either a very long day for one motivated worker or a lot of employees working tirelessly each day. Adding an automatic capping machine to your packaging line helps reduce labor costs by freeing up those workers who would be sealing containers to perform other tasks where necessary. On a fully automatic bottling line, a single operator may monitor the line, add bulk caps as necessary, and perform other tasks like loading empty bottles onto a turntable or packing finished products into boxes for shipping. Even where a line combines semi-automatic and automatic packaging equipment, using an automatic capper frees up labor to perform other non-automated tasks, such as rinsing, filling, or labeling, meeting demand while decreasing labor cost.

Increases Product Safety

Consistent and precise capping also helps a business rest easy knowing that the products will reach the consumer in a safe and protected manner. Consistent sealing protects against product contamination and deterioration. Certain closures can increase this protection with tamper evident seals, ensuring that not only is the product safe when it reaches the shelf, but no one has opened the bottle or otherwise tampered with the product when the end user removes it from the shelf. These benefits not only keep products and consumers safe, but help to reduce waste and return by ensuring customers are happy, allowing the business to focus on producing more products.

Integrates with Any In Line Packaging System

While automatic capping machines can be used as stand-alone machinery, more often than not LPS automatic cappers are a part of a complete packaging system, including conveyors, rinsing machines, liquid fillers and any other equipment necessary to prepare a product for the consumer. LPS bottle capping machines are manufactured to integrate with nearly any in line packaging system, allowing a business to automate at their own pace or on an as needed basis. Casters and leveling legs allow a packager to simply roll the machine up to an existing power conveyor line and begin sealing bottles.

From screw on caps to T-corks, ROPP closures, child resistant caps and more, LPS manufactures an automatic capping machine that can add speed to your packaging process while heightening consistency and precision to the bottle sealing process. Visit the capping machinery section of our website to earn more about the different types of sealing equipment we build in our La Porte, Indiana plant, or call us today to speak to a Capping Specialist.