When users want to purchase filling machine filling line and send inquiries to filling machine manufacturers, the question that manufacturers must ask is how many bottles per hour?
How to calculate the production capacity of a filling line?
Output per hour = bottle volume × number of bottles filled per hour by the filling machine
Among them, the bottle volume refers to the capacity of each bottle, such as 330ml, 500ml, 1L, etc. The number of bottles per hour of the filling machine refers to the filling speed that the filling machine can achieve per hour. Such as 3,000 bottles per hour, 5,000 bottles per hour, 10,000 bottles per hour, etc. The output per hour is how many Liters of beverages this filling line can fill per hour.
Suppose a filling machine can fill 5000 bottles of beverages per hour, each bottle has a capacity of 500 ml. Its output is 2,500 litres per hour (5,000 bottles x 0.5 litres/bottle). If the filling line works 8 hours a day, the total production in a day will be 20,000 liters (2,500 l/h x 8 hours). This is just a simple example, in fact, the output can also be affected by some factors. Such as beverage type, filling speed, filling accuracy, equipment performance, operator skill level, quality of raw materials, etc. Therefore, in actual production, it is necessary to adjust and optimize according to the specific situation to improve yield and efficiency.
To achieve an average filling output of 5,000 bottles per hour, it is not enough to have a filling machine that can fill 5,000 bottles per hour. Because the output of a filling line is related to the output of the filling machine and also to the efficiency of the entire line.
For example, a filling machine with an output of 5,000 bottles per hour can theoretically fill 40,000 bottles (5,000 bottles * 8 hours) in 8 hours a day. It means the one-day production capacity is 40,000 bottles.
In actual production, the labeling machine stops for 30 minutes when changing labels, the film packaging machine stops for 30 minutes to increase consumption material, and the buffer conveying is not enough to cause bottle congestion and the whole line stops for 30 minutes, plus the downtime caused by other reasons that may occur, and the actual production time of a day is only 6 hours. The daily output is only 30,000 bottles (5,000 bottles * 6 hours). The production is only 3,750 bottles per hour (30,000 bottles ÷ 8 hours). The efficiency of the whole line is only 75% (3750 bottles ÷ 5000 bottles). 10,000 fewer bottles a day, assuming 240 working days a year, would produce 2.4 million fewer bottles a year.
To replenish the production of these 2.4 million bottles, the factory must work overtime. Users need to pay overtime pay, factory utility bills, etc. The larger the beverage factory, the greater the impact. You now know how important the efficiency of the whole line is.
In order to improve the efficiency of the whole filling line, filling machine manufacturers and users need to consider the following points.
1. The length of the filling line conveyor
To ensure the smooth operation of the entire filling line, sufficient buffer conveyors are necessary. So that the filling line can still work properly when one set of equipment stops. For example, when the labeling machine fails or stops for label changing, the blow molding machine and filling machine at the front of the labeling machine do not need to stop at the same time. Because sufficient buffer conveyor will buy time for the labeler to restart, avoiding the congestion of bottles in front of the labeler.
For a filling line that plans to produce 5,000 bottles per hour, we recommend equipping at least 50 meters to 100 meters of conveyors. We will calculate the specific length according to the specific situation of the filling line and the production process. When designing a conveyor system, users need to consider factors such as the distance between the individual equipment in the filling line, the speed of transportation, the batch produced, and possible downtime to ensure the stable operation of the filling line. At the same time, to avoid the influence caused by the machines stopping, users need to consider more buffer areas.
2. Lubrication of filling line conveyor
When the filling line continues to run for a long time, the conveyor belt may experience wear and heat generation. The use of a water lubrication system can effectively solve this problem. The system will regularly spray water droplets on the surface of the conveyor belt to form a water film, reduce the friction coefficient of the conveyor belt, reduce wear, and play the role of cooling the conveyor belt. Prevent the production from being affected by friction heating. Water is an environmentally friendly, renewable lubricant. Compared to conventional oil lubrication systems, water lubrication systems do not produce waste or harmful gases, so the product has less impact. In addition, the maintenance cost of the water lubrication system is also low, which can reduce the operating cost of the enterprise. It is usually used in high-volume filling lines.
3. Ways to feed consumption material.
When packaging machines and labeling machines need labels and packing materials, if users don’t prepare the consumption materials and tools in time, or didn’t train the staff well, it will lead to a long downtime of the machine and affect the normal operation of the entire filling line. To avoid this, users can take the following actions:
- Adopt an automatic feeding system. Equipped with an independent feeding system, feed the consumption material to the machine automatically, avoiding manual addition and reducing the time to replace consumption material. Packaging machines such as case packers can already achieve automatic loading without downtime.
- Spare consumption material reserve. Have a certain amount of spare consumption material next to the machine, and when the main consumption material is exhausted, workers can replace the spare consumption material quickly to reduce downtime. At the same time, pay attention to strengthening the training of operators at ordinary times. This method is suitable for film wrapping machines, sleeve labeling machines, and labeling machines.
- Double feeding system: Install the double feeding system on the machine, when the main consumption material is exhausted, it can automatically switch to the spare consumption material, which will not affect the production. This method is suitable for sleeve labelers and labelers.
- Regular replacement of consumption material: In a shift of production, reserve enough consumption material on the machine to ensure that the machine will not be shut down due to the replacement of consumption material. It is mainly suitable for small filling lines or short-term production.
In short, the production efficiency of a filling line not only depends on the production speed of a single filling machine but also closely related to the equipment configuration of the entire line and the work arrangement during production. When the user purchases the machine, the filling machine manufacturer should be urged to reasonably consider the efficiency of the entire filling line. In this way, when the filling line is put into production, it can bring the desired effect to the user.
