For 20 years now, packaging machine builders and end users alike have been incrementally drifting away from pneumatics and hydraulics toward all-digital, electric automation. Florida-based OEM Balpack, Inc. is no exception, and the company makes heavy use of servo electric-based VFDs, PLCs, and HMIs to provide their customers with both standard and custom machinery, packaging everything from food to cosmetics to nutraceuticals and more.
One customer came forward asking Balpack for an application that would cap small bottles. The customer wanted something that could deliver the pre-programmed precision that would easily handle the capping of delicate containers filled with pills, liquids, or powders. None of Balpack's existing equipment could meet this need, so engineers at the OEM decided to build a new machine. But pandemic-induced component availability delays were a problem, forcing Balpack’s hand in widening its pool of preferred suppliers. After interviewing several new vendors, they chose integrator HPE Automation, a Mitsubishi Electric distributor. Teams from Balpack and HPE worked hand-in-hand to develop a machine based on a star wheel design, what I call the Star Wheel Capper.
