ProMach: Performance, Packaged Performance, Packaged

The Packaging Observer

We Love Packaging So Much We Decided to Blog About It

Bottling & Capping

Tailored Packaging Systems for the Distilled Spirits Industry

Are you packaging distilled spirits? ProMach can help – by providing tailored solutions to fit your packaging line needs, from rinsing and filling, capping, labeling, and more, extending the shelf life of your packaging goods and identifying ways to reduce overall production line costs. As a distillery, your production line needs to be running at peak performance, with minimal downtime to ensure your production goals are met. ProMach has you covered, from beginning of line to end of line. Tailored packaging systems for the distilled spirits industry, at ProMach #WeDoThat

For more information on how ProMach helps distilled spirits lines, watch the Maker’s Mark video below. Mike Monroe, Maintenance Manager at Maker’s Mark, sits down and discusses the long-standing history at the Maker’s Marks distillery, relying on ProMach product brands Fogg, P.E. Labellers, and Zalkin for their bottling line. Watch the full video and learn about ProMach product brands that help the distilled spirits industry: https://info.promachbuilt.com/distilledspirits

Choosing the Appropriate Capping Technology for your Application

Capping machine design falls into two basic categories, in-line cappers and rotary chuck-style cappers. In this new white paper by Andy Monroe, VP of Business Development for Zalkin, a ProMach product brand, Monroe explores these two capping technologies and compares the characteristics of both machines so the reader can make a sound decision as to which capping technology is best for their application. Monroe reviews the financial investments for each machine, such as initial costs and cost of changeovers, operating speeds, cap consideration, container style, and more. Read more about these two capping machine designs in the white paper below so you can be better informed the next time a need for a capper arises!

Choosing the Appropriate Capping Technology for your ApplicationDownload

ProMach + Maker’s Mark

At the Maker’s Mark distillery in Loretto, Kentucky, tradition comes highly regarded. Long-standing family traditions are evident down to finite details throughout the distillery. From the Samuels family brand insignia placed throughout the grounds, the original bourbon recipe that’s still used, the one-batch production process that has made their whiskey famous, to the hand-dipped signature wax topper that makes them stand out on the shelves, it’s clear that Maker’s Mark values tradition.

Mike Monroe, Maintenance Manager at Maker’s Mark, recently sat down and discussed another long-standing history at the Maker’s Marks distillery, relying on ProMach product brands Fogg, P.E. Labellers, and Zalkin for their bottling line. As Mike discusses, Fogg, P.E. Labellers, and Zalkin come together to deliver reliable and efficient machinery that reaches targeted efficiency standards within 3 days of installation, has low cost of ownership, offers multiple-label flexibility for their bottles, delivers precision capping quality for corks and plastic caps, and much more. Together, these product brands deliver seamless packaging solutions for Maker’s Mark. Watch the full video to see why Maker’s Mark chooses ProMach product brands for their packaging needs.

An Introduction to the ProMach Disinfectants Campaign

With the spread of the coronavirus, it’s no surprise disinfectant products (including common household cleaners) are flying off the shelves. And, while the virus is an unfortunate situation that continues to plague our world, the focus on maintaining a clean and sanitary space has never been greater.

Fortunately, ProMach, across its spectrum of product brands, has a lot of experience supporting packaging lines that produce all sorts of disinfectants and household cleaners. From filling disinfectant solutions into bottles to shrink-wrap bundling multi-pack disinfectant wipes, and from wrapping labels in a variety of ways onto different sized containers to packing cases of bottles, the proven examples run deep! Basically, if the customer can produce the product, ProMach most likely has every packaging application available to get the product out the door to retail outlets.  

Bleach is a great example of a disinfectant product that ProMach is able to provide packaging solutions from beginning to end of line. This popular product, and derivations of it, is out of stock just as quickly as it is coming in. Thus, companies are needing to ramp up production goals to help keep supply in balance with the heightened demand. On the packaging side of production, a plastic bottle filled with bleach has packaging specifications from filling, capping, bottling unscrambling, bottle orienting, shrink or stretch sleeving (or other primary labeling), conveying, bundling, case sealing, palletizing, stretch wrapping, and more.

More specifically, take for instance prepping a load of unused bottles/containers that are needing to get filled. Pace works with the manufacturers of bleach to design and build bottle unscramblers that help get them organized and onto the line in the upright position. Moving down the line to filling, accuracy is often a top concern for these packaging lines. Pacific manufacturers top-fill nozzles with displacement style automatic shutoff valves that provide accuracy and high production capacity for non-foamy liquids. When zero drip is required, Pacific incorporates a nozzle-based vacuum system into both top fill and bottom-up fill nozzles. Zalkin’s high-performance capping system effectively and efficiently applies caps to the bottles. Using custom conveyance systems built by Benchmark, bottles carefully make their way to case sealing, where Wexxar Bel provides various levels of automation to bring in and form the boxes necessary to transport cases of bleach. With the help of Dekka’s tapeheads alongside Wexxar Bel’s equipment, proper seals are applied to the top and bottom, which is especially important for heavier products, such as with multiple bottles of bleach.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, the packaging solutions for bleach are not the only solutions that ProMach offers for the disinfectant industry. There’s a lot! This is why ProMach has created a campaign surrounding all the capabilities they provide for the disinfectant industry, called the We Do That for the Disinfectants Industry. With that, ProMach has tried to make the learning process quicker and easier by narrowing in on the most applicable solutions for the disinfectant industry and highlighting them on a dedicated website. We invite you to check out the website here to learn about the many parts of the packaging line that are handled by a ProMach product brand. And, be sure to be on the lookout for We Do That for the Disinfectants Industry images across all the social media sites, especially LinkedIn, which try to share relevant industry data and stories. Some past examples can be spotted here. Packaging solutions across all aspects of the packaging line for the disinfectants industry, at ProMach #WeDoThat!

Screw Cap Sealing For Wine Bottles

As part of the bottling process for wine, a decision must be made around how the wine bottle is sealed and capped. There are a variety of options when it comes to closures…traditional cork, screw cap, synthetic cork, vinoseal, and more. In recent trends, there has been a rise in the use of screw caps, for which there are many benefits to using. For example, these benefits include less chance of oxygen permeating the bottle vs traditional corks, which lowers the percentage of tainted, or “corked,” bottles. Other benefits of screw caps include a generally higher quality and more reliable process compared to a few others, and it can end up being a more cost-effective application for the manufacturer.

Zalkin, a leading manufacturer of high-performance capping and cap handling systems, offers screw-on + roll-on capping heads which provide dual function cap applications designed specifically for the wine and spirits industries. These machines are capable of applying TOPP closures to glass bottles at speeds up to 900 cpm (54,000 cph). TOPP closures short for Torque-on Pilfer-Proof closures, feature a plastic, screw-on fitment inside an aluminum closure, allowing for twist-off and twist-on functionality. Said another way, it’s a capping solution that provides reclose convenience for the consumer as well as essential product security via roll-on tamper evident or pilfer proof band.

What’s more, these dual function screw-on + roll-on heads apply TOPP aluminum closures in a single operation, maintaining constant torque and adding efficiency to the bottling line operation. For a more visual demonstration, this one minute video shows how the Zalkin TM135 single head roll-on capper transfers the aluminum caps and highlights the precision at which the machine applies them to the glass bottles.

Roll-on sealing capping heads, like all Zalkin capping heads, are compatible with Zalkin freestanding rotary cappers, monobloc rotary capping turrets, and single head freestanding cappers.

Not sure what kind of capping technology you need for your product? Zalkin has written an informative white paper that reviews how to choose the appropriate capping technology based on the application. Find it here!  And, you can read more about Zalkin’s capping capabilities here. Screw cap sealing for wine bottles, at ProMach, We Do That!