As companies prepare budgeting and allocations for capital investments to their packaging lines for 2023, it's important to consider the container handling elements of your line that can greatly increase throughput. These systems are often cost effective and can have great impact.
For the petroleum industry specifically, we recommend 4 specific pieces of equipment to consider for efficiency improvements that can reduce labor and increase throughput.
1. Turning Timing Screw Drive Unit
Common to oil packaging lines is the need to go from wide-side leading to narrow-side leading for container orientation. A timing screw drive unit is a must-have to automate this process and increase throughput between the applications that require the different container orientation.
These systems are flexible, if you need to run different container sizes, change parts can be provided as well. Say you need to run one quart and one gallon on the same line, this is now a possibility with a changeover that only takes a couple minutes, or you can bypass the turn altogether if one size doesn't require the change in orientation.
2. Inverting and Filling Automation for Cartridges
When cartridges need to be vertically filled but are laying down ahead of the filler, this can present a throughput concern. The simple solution would be to install an inverting system that automatically accepts and flips the containers while presenting them correctly for filling.
Each system features an inline filling system with container handling provided by Morrison and filling by ProSys. As the Morrison screws and machine design accurately position each tube within 1/16th of an inch, ProSys maintains a fill accuracy of +/- 1 percent. This dedication to accuracy on the systems leaves customers with a powerful unit capable of filling up to 120 containers per minute.
You can learn more about this partnership and installing it on your line here.
3. Upright and Combine Oil Containers in One System
If your facility needs to split oil container blow molds and upright them onto the conveyor, this too can be automated.
In the video, you'll see how the wheel splits the mold and the twist / screw assembly accepts the containers, up righting them onto the conveyor. Next, since the downstream application is only one lane, a Lane Combiner is implemented into the same system to combine the containers into one lane down the line.
The entire time, the containers are positively controlled by timing screws while a rather labor intensive process is automated in one unique system. Systems like this can be integrated with trimmer discharge stars you already have in your facility or are planning to purchase.
Learn more here.
4. Automatically Reject Down Bottles
Down bottles create major issues at any point in your product but especially around filling. To reduce downtime or labor needed for down bottles, you can install a down bottle reject, which is a mechanical system that rejects containers based on their geometry.
These systems are incredibly easy to retrofit to you existing conveyor, and since they mount on core plates, you can be supplied with different sets of down bottle reject guides for the different containers you need to run on your line. They are all quick change, so it takes only minutes to swap from one set to another.
To learn more about this product, click here.
Morrison Container Handling Solutions is a proud member of the Petroleum Packaging Council. To learn more about how to get involved, visit https://www.ppcouncil.org/.