Vertical Bagging Machines Offer Cost Cutting Opportunities
Companies that bag loose and irregularly shaped products typically have three packing options:
- Filling pre-made bags by hand
- Horizontal bagging machines
- Vertical Bagging Machines
For a wide range of products, automating the bagging process with a vertical bagging machine offers the advantages of lowering operation costs while improving productivity and sustainability. In these difficult economic times when material and labor costs are rising, it is important to understand the fundamentals of where, when, and why to automate the bagging process with vertical bagging technology. Armed with this knowledge, operations personnel can optimize machine selection and at the same time accrue a host of advantages.
Vertical bagging machines form the bag around the product. Because the film travels vertically around and down over the product, vertical equipment is ideal for bagging items that are longer than they are wide, have irregular shapes, or are pieces and parts for a kit. Products most often packed with this method include:
- Food service items - cups, lids, knives, forks, and spoons
- Do-it-yourself items - paint rollers, wallpaper rolls, widow shades, and curtain rods
- Toys - footballs
- Kit packaging - auto parts, nuts and bolts, puzzle pieces, tie wraps
- Bulk packaging - bottle caps
- Products that are not easy to handle on a flat surface - tennis, golf, and soccer balls
- Mixed products - books and CDs, shoes and shirts
- Irregularly shaped products - surfboards
- Vertical and horizontal bagging machines
Horizontal bagging machines, white form the bag around a product lying flat, are typically used for items that are longer than they are wide on the horizontal axis. Items that roll and are not stable or easily grouped on a horizontal surface are optimum candidates for a vertical machine. It pays to match the shape of the product to the correct bagging machine because of material savings. Scrap on the vertical machine comes from the narrow width not the length, while the converse is true on the horizontal bagger.