Advanced Packaging Standards and Emerging Issues

When the image is new, the world is new, goes the popular saying. The appearance of a product goes a long way in influencing its marketability. Thus packaging must be designed to attract the end user before they even know the uses of a product.

The increase in population and the demand for consumer goods as well as food stuffs has occasioned the need for mechanization to speed up production processes. This has also lead to development of various packaging machines and designs which boost production.

International Standards on Packaging Material and Machines

For a successful manufacture of packaging machinery it is crucial to understand the regulatory requirements and the standards that need to be attained for the product. Manufacturers of packaging machines for the food and pharmaceutical products must put in additional effort since these are products for consumption. They must be subjected to a food safety risk assessment process to assess potential hazards to the food.

The International standards organization have developed global standards on packaging that requires manufacturers to comply with these standards or show reasonable standards of compliance or risk being pushed out of market.

Calibration Techniques of Packaging and Sealing Machines

Calibration is done by setting the parameters to be achieved and running a test sample to confirm that they are achieved. These are such as the firmness of seal, accuracy of placement and even tightness of cap. Powder filling machines must be precisely manufactured and set to release just the required amount of product. Any faults in the discharge nozzle or gun will lead to either more discharge or less which is not acceptable. If this machine were used for the pharmaceutical firm the consequences are dangerous. This applies to filling machines and the pharmaceutical machinery in general.

Workmanship versus durability

Workmanship represents the final quality and appearance of the product and mostly in machinery. For ideal equipment, the workmanship must match the durability of the equipment to give complete service to the end user.

Innovation for greater applications

In the business world, no organization can progress without innovation. Thus innovative management practices greatly give an organization a competitive edge over others in the same industry. In manufacturing, a packing machine that can handle various products is more productive than one which handles only one item. The Capping machine is able to handle various products with similar packaging requirements hence very important in packaging.

Availability of technical information for maintenance

The availability of technical information, spare parts, after sales service is a critical requirement for machines. Lack of spare parts can mean that the machine is grounded thus interfering with the production process. Similarly absence of technical information means that company technicians have to work their way around to know the equipment first then undertake maintenance. All this is time consuming leading to losses in production.

Conclusion

Packaging machines are very important in the manufacturing and consumer products. To ensure great customer service and adherence to food safety requirements, standards have been developed such as the ISO 12100 and ISO 14121 standards on packaging machinery. Calibration is very important for packaging equipments to ensure accurate delivery of products as well as create great products.

Availability of technical information and spare parts is also very important for serviceability of the machine and continuous production.

This article is written by Mahesh Mevada