Consumer Product Assembly & Packaging - Electronic Trigger Spray Pump Capping Machine
DMW Automation engineers and staff personnel solved a spray bottle trigger insertion problem increasing production capabilities while improving surface aesthetics of the trigger closure ring. The system was designed to handle sprayer trigger at a rate of 300 parts per minute.
Overview
- Location: Midwest
- Industry: Consumer Products
- Products/Services: Spray Bottles Household Products
- Primary SIC Code: 5169
- Annual Sales: Over $1 billion
- Technology: Continuous Motion
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| Electronic trigger capping head. |
Situation
DMW Automation was contacted by a major consumer products manufacturer to design a custom automated spray bottle trigger insertion machine. The customer was already operating a machine purchased from a different manufacturer, but was not happy with the quality of the existing machinery in part due to the fact that its insertion and tightening mechanism left surface scratches on their trigger closure ring, marring the surface of the product.
The customer approached DMW Automation since they had worked with us previously on their labeling and bottle orienting equipment and did not want to work any longer with their original automated equipment manufacturer. They provided us with a specification for automated equipment that could produce 300 parts per minute.
Action
DMW Automation personnel traveled to the customer’s location to evaluate and examine their existing machine plus the physical constraints of the installation site. The machine also had to be electronically synchronized with an upstream bottle filler.
Our engineers developed a novel clamshell approach (that is now patent pending) to torque the trigger mechanism and designed a rotary platform around this technology. In order to do so, we first built a prototype for the torqueing mechanism consisting of a new electronic servomotor-controlled torque head.
The solution we provided consisted of a new machine platform that placed different shaped trigger spray pumps onto different shaped bottles, and electronically tightened them to a known torque at a machine rate of 300 parts per minute. Our customer challenged us to develop a design that could run two completely different types of trigger spray pumps and seven different bottle presentations. Our unique design integrated two completely different trigger spray pump in-feed systems into one machine and provided automatic bottle height adjustments. Prior to inserting the trigger spray pumps into the bottles, our machine straightened the dip tubes and guided them into the bottle using a centering guide. Our newly designed electronic torque head accurately applied the appropriate trigger spray pump closure application torque that was programmed through the Human Machine Interface (HMI).
After fabrication and assembly, we conducted Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) with the customer present and received their approval to ship the machine. We shipped the machine on site and integrated it with the upstream and downstream equipment.
Results
Our automated equipment solution reduced operator intervention and improved product quality. The equipment is currently running three shifts at a rate of 300 ppm with one operator and has a total reject rate of less than 0.5%.
For more information about DMW Automation’s custom automation equipment and systems services, please call us at 847-437-0665 or email us at sales@dmwautomation.com.
