Packaging Systems
Performed for purposes such as containment, protection and ease, packaging is an important process in many industries, including industrial manufacturing, for warehouse applications such as palletizing for transport or storage; food and beverage, for sanitary packaging of food items such as meat, poultry, seafood, baked goods and more; commercial, for retail purposes such as appliances, textiles and graphic arts; construction, for easier handling of building materials such as lumber, brick and concrete pavers; and electronics, for resilient packaging for sensitive electrical devices. Using a variety of different types of metal, plastic and fibre packaging, including
blister packs,
clamshells, bottles and drums, packaging systems provide an efficient means of packaging bulk items. In addition, the automation of packaging systems allows for reduced human labor time as well as the ability to accomplish certain packaging, such as tamper-evident bottlenecks, that are not humanly possible.
Several different types of
packaging machinery are capable of being incorporated into a packaging system. Some of the more common types of
packaging equipment include filling machines, vacuum packaging machines,
heat sealers and even
strapping machines. Vacuum packaging machines are the most common type and include chamber sealers and external sealers. However, packaging systems are not solely composed of the packaging equipment; they also involve various parts that allow for transport between the various machines, such as belt conveyors and troughs. In packaging systems, there are often three different types of packaging machines. The first type consists of primary packaging machines, which perform the initial packaging of the product. The second type consists of secondary packaging machines, which are used to group all the single packages into one larger package. Lastly, the third type consists of tertiary packaging machines, which are used to load a bulk amount of packages for distribution purposes. Overall, packaging systems are most often required in industries with bulk packaging needs, the main industries including industrial, agriculture, food and chemical processing, in order to optimize process productivity.
