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Bulk feeding caps and lids has proven to lower cost and increase throughput. Though it is overlooked as a minor area of consideration, this process is actually imperative for boosting efficiency and productivity on a bottling line. It is essential for companies to consider ways to reduce costs—and the bulking feeding system is the perfect solution. When a company begins preparing for a new packaging line without sacrificing cost efficiency, considering the bulk cap feeding system as opposed to individual case feeding is valuable. Features of the bulk feeding system include reduced labor and material handling, a cleaner environment around the capping operation, increased throughput, reduced incidence of repetitive motion and other lost-time injuries, improved sustainability measurements, and lower overall cost. Case feeding is a process that requires an operator to take a corrugated shipping case with about 40 pounds of caps per case from a pallet. The case is then slip with a box cutter and the inner poly bag is opened. Because sorting and orientation systems are gravity fed, the operator needs to climb a ladder and dump the case-sized load of caps into a feed bowl at the top of the cap sorter. Once these preliminary instructions are complete, the operator needs to separate the poly bag from the corrugated cases, place the bag in one receptacle, and break down the box for recycle. During the process of slitting open and breaking them down, fiber-based dust are released in the air. There are several disadvantages of this case feeding process including repetition motion injuries and lost-time accidents resulting from cuts and falls. In addition, the operator has less time to monitor the capping machine for maximum throughput. Because full cases must be transported by forklift, this process is time consuming, labor intensive, and requires a large amount of space, stirring up dust along the way. Bulk feeders are an alternative that is located next to the capping machine or remotely located in a part of the plant with easy forklift access to consumables. Every bulk feeding system incorporates a bulk storage bin containing between 30 minutes to two hours of cap supply and a conveyor for delivery the caps to cap sorter. There are numerous factors to consider about conveyors chosen for the bulk feeding process. Pneumatic conveyors transport single rows of oriented caps. Designed with the ability to move up, down, right, or left in an attempt to conform to space and location considerations. The wide belt-based conveyors transport numerous unsorted caps abreast. With each new change in direction, the caps are transitioned to second conveyor at a lower height, meaning the belt conveyors need more ceiling height compared to pneumatic conveyors. The bulk cap feeding system is an integral part of high speed bottling lines. The opportunity for operational savings from bulk cap feeding machinery provides production rooms with an effective means of improving existing lines saving on labor, cost, time, and material.
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