5 Different Types of Filling Machines and Their Applications to Your Production Line

If you own a business that requires filling pouches or bottles with food, beverage, or other products, you must invest in a filling machine. It is a kind of packaging machine that can consistently fill thousands of containers with specific substances to a certain level.

While there are many different technologies of filling machines available in the market, you should invest in equipment that is best suited to meet the needs of your company. The right filling machine can improve your production line, boost sales, and help contribute to business success.

To guide you on which one to invest in, here are the 5 types of filling machines and their different applications.

5 Types of Filling Machines and Their Applications

1. Liquid Filling Machines

Liquid filling machines, also known as flow filling machines, are commonly used in the beverage industry. It dispenses the exact amount of liquid-based products needed for different containers such as bottles, cartons, cans, or cups.

APPLICATIONS: This type of filling machine can handle a wide range of liquids, including water, juice, alcoholic beverages, and carbonated drinks. It can even be utilized to fill packaging food items such as sauces, cooking oil, soup, and salad dressing.

Here are the common types of liquid filling equipment:

A.Manual Liquid Filling Machines – As the name suggests, this type of liquid filling machine requires no electricity and simply relies on manual operation. It helps increase accuracy and output speed compared to pouring liquid by hand. Manual liquid filling machine is suitable for small scale production or laboratories.

B. Semi-Automatic Liquid Filling Machines – It typically uses syringe, piston, and nozzle to ensure zero-drip operation. This type of liquid filling machine can work with almost all kinds of liquid including cleaning detergents and pharmaceutical products.  

C.Fully-Automatic Liquid Filling Machines – This type of liquid filling machine can handle large-scale operations and high-production requirements, making it a popular choice for big enterprises. It is mainly used to pour all viscosity liquids and liquids containing food products.

D. Inline Liquid Filling Machines – This machine pours both low and high-viscosity liquid to containers that are arranged in a single line along the conveyor system. It can be utilized in dispensing food, dairy, and cosmetics products.

E. Rotary Liquid Filling Machines – It moves containers along different circular stations, with each one performing a specific function such as filling, sealing, and capping. This type of liquid filling machine is commonly used in the beverage, food, automotive, and personal care industries.

F. Piston Filling Machines – This type of liquid filling machine can accurately pour products into containers. It is primarily utilized for filling substances with limited changeovers such as cosmetics, liquid soaps, and food sauces.

2. Powder Filling Machines

Powder filling machines are designed with a spiral feeding and light control technology that ensures high-filling accuracy and zero-drip operation. This type of filling machine is suitable for filling both free-flowing and non-free-flowing powdered or granulated products.

Free-flowing simply refers to powdered products that cannot maintain its shape even when extra pressure is added. Examples include granulated sugar or table salt. In contrast, non-free-flowing products, such as powdered milk and brown sugar, can be compressed and keep their shape.

APPLICATIONS: Powder filling machines are usually used in pouring additives, starch, feed, condiments, and pesticides into different types of packaging. As such, they are commonly seen in the food and beverage, cosmetics, and chemical industries.

3. Vibratory Weigh Filling Machines

This type of filling machine is designed with multiple vibrating trays to carefully dispense products into a weigh bucket. Once the required weight is achieved, the bucket would empty the product into a container.

 APPLICATIONS: Vibratory weigh filling machines are commonly used in the controlled distribution of products that are unsuitable for traditional powder filling machines. They are capable of filling dry granular substances that require precise weighing, making them extremely essential in industrial and chemical industries.

4. Capsule Filling Machines

Instead of filling containers by weight, this type of filling machine relies on pouring substances by piece or number.

APPLICATIONS: As such, capsule filling machines are commonly used for pharmaceutical purposes as medicines are very crucial to people’s health. They are capable of accurately counting soft and hard gelatin capsules, tablets, coated tablets, and pills.

Aside from the pharmaceutical and food industry, this filling machine is also used in agriculture, health care, and chemical engineering applications.

5. Positive Displacement Pump Filling Machines

This particular type of filling machine is designed with a positive displacement pump head that can easily handle a wide range of substances.

APPLICATIONS: It is mainly used in filling high-viscosity liquids such as gels, creams, and lotions. However, it is also capable of pouring water-thin and heavy-paste products. This includes shampoo, hair conditioners, hair gels, cosmetic creams, honey, heavy sauces, paste cleaners, and car wax among many others.

Filling machines are commonly used for packaging food and beverage products but they can also be applicable in other industries. Remember these 5 different types of filling machines to have a rough idea of which machine to invest in.