A timing screw squares Olly containers over the date coder before releasing them down the conveyor 8.25 inches apart.
Image provided by Morrison CHS
Facing date coding trouble on a line of supplements for its CM/CP customer Olly, contract manufacturer MSI needed a solution to set the containers at the right place and time.
The contract nutraceutical manufacturer and packager had encountered a challenge of consistently applying date codes to the underside of full and capped Olly plastic containers, according to equipment supplier Morrison Container Handling Solutions. Without reliable spacing and orientation as the containers moved through the date coding process, MSI often had to manually verify proper date code placement.
“The Olly bottles pose a significant challenge being square with round corners,” explains Jeremy Blazek, senior project manager at MSI. “Any drag and coefficient of friction on the conveyor guide rails would cause the bottles to become unstable, creating both illegible and misaligned date codes.”
To alleviate this issue, MSI turned to Morrison to design a metering solution that would improve precision and remove the need for manual code verification.
Metering solution supports both date coding and labeling
Morrison engineered an automated metering system to run 500-, 787-, and 1,000-mL Olly containers accurately over a Keyence date code printer. The system accepts these containers from a backlog before metering them over the printer with a timing screw at a rate of 120 containers per minute.The date coder is placed directly under the containers along the conveyor, represented by a dead plate in Morrison's testing.Image provided by Morrison CHS
The single timing screw pushing the containers along, machined from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, provides gentle handling and avoids excess pressure or damage to the bottles. The frame built around it is made with anodized aluminum to ensure durability.
“The timing screw Morrison provided allowed the bottle to transition through the coding area very smoothly with correct metering. This solution greatly enhanced repeatability of coding and reduced re-working bad codes,” says Blazek.
Each of the three sizes of Olly container tested for this system vary in height but have the same footprint. To make any changes needed to run different sizes, “We can either interpolate the screws, where we grow/shrink the diameter of the screws to deal with the different sizes of containers that need to run on the line, or we provide our deluxe adjuster,” says Dustin Lee, vice president of sales at Morrison.The Olly supplement jars differ in height, but not footprint, between the three sizes on the line.Image provided by Morrison CHS
Morrison and MSI also worked together to test run the metering system across multiple lines, covering all Olly supplement container sizes, Lee says.
The timing screw meters containers over the printer, which sits beneath the conveyor and applies codes through a slot, then maintains 8.25 inches of spacing as it sends them along. This provides enough clearance to avoid trouble labeling down the line.
“The labeler needs a minimum spacing for the wrap-around label to be applied,” explains Lee. The timing screw both provides that minimum spacing and squares the label for proper application.
This saves significant headaches for MSI, as Blazek explains, “In the past we experienced a tremendous amount of rework due to containers not having correct spacing entering the label head. This led to machines jams of bottles that were stuck together due to sharing the same label.”
By stabilizing the container spacing and velocity through the coding section, the Morrison metering system has improved the accuracy of date placement and overall efficiency on MSI’s packaging line, avoiding frequent manual intervention. And with the containers squared away for labeling, MSI can avoid any misalignment or double labeling.
Hiring remains a major challenge in packaging, with 78% struggling to fill unskilled roles and 84% lacking experienced workers. As automation grows, companies must rethink hiring and training. Download the full report for key insights.
What's in store for CPGs in 2025 and beyond? Packaging World editors explore the survey responses from 118 brand owners, CPG, and FMCG Packaging World readers for its new Annual Outlook Report.
