Industry
Fact-checked

At AboutMechanics, we're committed to delivering accurate, trustworthy information. Our expert-authored content is rigorously fact-checked and sourced from credible authorities. Discover how we uphold the highest standards in providing you with reliable knowledge.

Learn more...

What Is a Packaging Conveyor?

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

A packaging conveyor handles aspects of product packaging like containerizing, labeling, and stacking on pallets for shipment. It includes belts, rollers, and other devices to move products, with equipment along the conveyor line to perform specific packaging tasks. Such equipment typically needs to be customized to a factory to accommodate size and layout considerations. In addition, the conveyor also needs to be able to handle the types of products the company makes, from bottled sodas to children’s toys.

This equipment provides a streamlined mechanism for moving products through a factory. It can reduce the risk of contamination and damage by automating the packaging process, and can also contribute to worker safety by reducing the number of people who need to be on the floor. The conveyor starts with equipment for putting a product in packages, like shooting pressurized soda into bottles or shaking hard candies into bags. The packages can be labeled, checked for quality, and inserted into shipping containers.

Cardboard packages.
Cardboard packages.

Features available on a packaging conveyor can vary. Some devices have inspection stations which can check weights or use cameras to identify flaws in the products. Others may require manual inspection of products for quality control purposes. The equipment can add special stamps or seals to products, including freshness and safety seals for food to assure consumers that the contents of a package have not been adulterated, and sell-by dates for perishable items.

Packaging conveyors handle tasks including labeling, stacking and placing products in containers.
Packaging conveyors handle tasks including labeling, stacking and placing products in containers.

Special conditions may be needed on a packaging conveyor. In an ice cream plant, for example, the environment must be chilled to prevent damage to the product during the packaging process. It delivers items from batch or continuous production machines all the way to chilled delivery trucks, ensuring that the temperature never rises outside a narrow range. This prevents quality control problems like icing, which can occur when ice cream melts and refreezes, along with protecting consumers from bacterial growth that might occur if the product was allowed to get too warm.

A packaging conveyor is used to fill and seal milk into cartons or bottles.
A packaging conveyor is used to fill and seal milk into cartons or bottles.

Specialists in packaging conveyor systems can design and install equipment for an entire factory, or update just one segment of the system. Some may need extra features like alpine conveyors, which can lift products up one or more stories to different parts of a factory. Custom modifications can help companies continue to use an original packaging line, which can save money by extending the time between replacements. A company that needs to package soda in smaller bottles, for example, needs to adjust the equipment, but should be able to keep using the core packaging conveyor.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a AboutMechanics researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Learn more...
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a AboutMechanics researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Learn more...

Discuss this Article

Post your comments
Login:
Forgot password?
Register:
    • Cardboard packages.
      By: Scanrail
      Cardboard packages.
    • Packaging conveyors handle tasks including labeling, stacking and placing products in containers.
      By: .shock
      Packaging conveyors handle tasks including labeling, stacking and placing products in containers.
    • A packaging conveyor is used to fill and seal milk into cartons or bottles.
      By: Budimir Jevtic
      A packaging conveyor is used to fill and seal milk into cartons or bottles.
    • The apron conveyor is a type of conveyor system that is often used in manufacturing.
      By: Dreef
      The apron conveyor is a type of conveyor system that is often used in manufacturing.