Supporting Equipment

The Gaps Between Machines Are Where Lines Fail

A filler rated at 6,000 bottles per hour and a capper rated at the same speed will still bottleneck each other without the right buffering and transfer equipment in between.

Supporting equipment covers everything that moves, sorts, buffers, or cleans product and components between the primary filling, capping and sealing machines: cap sorters that feed closures in the correct orientation, accumulation tables that absorb short stoppages without stalling the whole line, conveyors that transfer containers at matched speed, and CIP (Clean-In-Place) systems and sterilizers that keep product-contact surfaces hygienic between batches.

These are specified alongside the primary machines during line design — not selected afterward once the filler and capper are already on order.

Equipment Categories

Ten categories of supporting equipment cover most line integration requirements.

Bottle Rinser

Rotary machine that inverts bottles and sprays them with high-pressure water or air before filling, clearing dust and residue left over from storage and transport. Available as a 12-head configuration (around 3,600 bottles/hour) or a higher-throughput 24-head configuration. "No bottle, no rinse" sensing cuts water consumption between containers.

Bottle Unscrambler

Takes bulk-loaded empty bottles, orients them upright, and single-files them onto the conveyor — removes a manual loading step and keeps the line fed at a steady rate. Mechanism is matched to bottle shape and line speed: linear vibratory, horizontal or vertical centrifugal, centrifugal-with-cave, waterfall lift, or multi-lane vertical feed.

Cap Sorter & Feeder

Orients bulk-loaded caps and delivers them in a single-file chute to the capper, eliminating manual cap loading. Available as vibratory bowl, centrifugal disc, centrifugal-with-cave, or lifting-type feeders depending on cap shape and required feed rate.

Accumulation Table

Rotary buffer table that absorbs short stoppages downstream (label jam, case-packer pause) without stalling the filler — keeps upstream machines running.

Transmission Conveyor

Roller or belt conveyor sized to match the throughput of the machines on either side of it — the most common cause of an under-performing line is a mismatched conveyor.

Sterilizer

Low-temperature sterilizing tunnel or chamber for containers, caps or components requiring a hygiene step before filling — used in food, dairy and pharmaceutical lines.

CIP System & Storage Tank

Clean-In-Place skid and jacketed storage/mixing tank for hygienic product holding and automated line cleaning between batches — standard on dairy, beverage and pharma lines.

Carton Erector

Forms flat-pack cartons into shape and closes the bottom before product loading. Layer vacuum cartoning variants are available for loading multiple bottles or tubes per layer in one cycle.

Case Sealer

Tape-type or hot-glue case sealing machine that closes and seals the top of the carton after product loading, in-line with the roller conveyor feeding the next station.

Case Packer (Grab Type)

Grab-type gripper arms lift glass bottles individually from the conveyor and place them into cartons below — gentler handling for containers that can't be vacuum-lifted in bulk.

Case Packer (Vacuum Type)

Vacuum pick-up collates and loads pharmaceutical and plastic bottles into cartons in bulk for high-speed lines.

Denester

Separates and feeds stacked cups, trays, or containers one at a time onto the line using timing-screw or pneumatic pick, ahead of filling — available in cup, tray, and container configurations.

Cap Sorter by Mechanism

The cap sorter above is specified from one of four feed mechanisms, chosen by cap shape and required feed rate:

01

Lifting / Elevator Type

Elevates caps from bulk supply and aligns them before feeding into the line. Handles a wide range of cap sizes with high accuracy, at the cost of a larger footprint and higher initial cost.

02

Centrifugal Type

Uses centrifugal force to sort and feed caps — highly efficient for high-speed production and reliable across cap sizes, but requires more frequent maintenance and adjustment than other types.

03

Vertical Wheel Type

A rotating wheel with pockets or cavities holds and sorts caps. High-speed, large-volume throughput, but needs regular cleaning and struggles with complex cap shapes.

04

Vibration Type

Uses vibration to orient and feed caps. Versatile and simple to operate with minimal maintenance, though less suited to complex cap shapes and sensitive to environmental conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I add supporting equipment to a line I already own?

  Yes — accumulation tables, conveyors and cap sorters are commonly retrofitted onto existing lines to fix a specific bottleneck. Send us your current line's machine models and speeds and where the slowdown happens, and we can recommend the right connecting equipment without replacing machines that already work.

• Do I need a CIP system if I already clean manually?

  Manual cleaning works at low volumes, but becomes a real labour cost and consistency risk as output scales — and most food, dairy and pharmaceutical export markets require documented CIP cycles for certification. If you're planning to export or scale production, CIP is worth specifying early rather than retrofitting later.

• How do you size a conveyor or accumulation table correctly?

  Sizing is based on the speed of the machines on either side, the container's stability (base diameter vs. height), and how much buffer time you want before a downstream stoppage affects the filler. Undersized accumulation is one of the most common reasons a newly installed line runs below its rated speed.