6 replies to this topic

[VictorL692]

Hello! My friend runs a small business with his wife, and he complains that manually pouring our items into bottles takes up a lot of his time (not including mixing etc). Actually, I'm not familiar with the functioning and selection of this type of machine. He's seeking for a machine that can fill bottles from 2oz to 8oz and is either semi-automated or fully automatic. He has a Chuck Capping machine  already. Everything points to Alibaba/Express for the bottle filling machine, however I'm not sure if anyone has any firsthand experience with one or any suggestions!

[Scampi]

DO NOT USE THOSE SITES!!!!!!

 

There are lots of Canadian used food processing equipment dealers  or new

 

https://www.massilly.ca/

 

https://mdpackaging....illing-machine/

 

https://www.elnova.c...ic-fillers.html

 

When you reach out, be sure to ask for used equipment----lots of times people outgrow theirs and trade in for larger

 

I was in canning for a time----those machines are not cheap, even used 

 

If they have deep pockets, and sales projections warrant it, then I would do inline that can work with the existing capper, but they likely also need an inline water bath station

 

Do they have a process authority letter detailing time/temp/hold etc details????

[Scampi]

What exactly, are they producing?  

 

The requirements for the process may dictate the type of equipment available to them

 

Do they have a letter from a process authority?  Is this an acidified food?

[olenazh]

I've heard that it's common among manufacturers to buy production equipment from auctions. I have no experience in this field, whatsoever, but you could try to google where/when this kind of auctions will be held.

[pHruit]

As Olenazh suggests, auctions are worth investigating. I've no idea how prevalent these are in Canada, but here in the UK I receive multiple emails pretty much daily from companies that host / organise auctions of second-hand food industry equipment.
It doesn't depreciate anything like as much as consumer products do, but you / your friend will still get more for your cash than you will buying new.

I'd be a bit cautious about AliExpress unless you have a specific recommendation you trust, for a particular product and seller. There is undoubtedly lots of substandard junk on there, but there is also some reasonable quality/value too. Telling which is which in advance can potentially be a challenge though!

The AliExpress dispute resolution process is pretty good IMO, but that doesn't mean that you want to go through the hassle of having to deal with it

 

Scampi's post is also very relevant - what do you need it to fill? Hot / cold fill, liquid / sauce with solids, does it need to do volumetric fill, is the product carbonated etc?

Unfortunately "bottling machine" covers quite a wide variety of things!

[olenazh]

Also, on the auction you'll be able to see (and touch/test, I suppose) the equipment piece - unlike online purchases.

[Brothbro]

Hi Victor,

 

I would agree with others not to use alibaba or aliexpress...there are a number of risks associated with those sites! I have limited experience with filling machines from a company called AccuTek. They offer a number of different packaging machines. We have a filling machine which can fill 2oz bottles in a batch-fashion. You load the table with 36 bottles and it fills them all, upon which they're manually removed from the table and capped by an operator. 

 

There's also this site: Machino.com that deals in used equipment auctions and sales. I haven't used them before but I stumbled upon them one day and they seemed interesting. Like others have said though, this type of equipment is expensive. Whatever model you get interested in, make sure to research it heavily to know it's suitable for your operation. Not only how it will fill bottles, but:

 

- How will it be cleaned?

- What are the power requirements?

- How much space does it take up?

- Can the filling machine pump your style of product, and service your style of bottles?

- What are the preventive maintenance and calibration requirements of the machine?