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By Tony Gregory
When choosing a bottle unscrambler or any other packaging automation equipment, it’s tempting to focus only on your current bottle formats. After all, that’s what you need to run today, right? But limiting your focus like this could lead to major operational headaches, and unplanned capital expenses, sooner than you think.
Why Future Bottle Compatibility Is Critical
In today’s fast-evolving markets (whether it’s pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and beverage, or chemical packaging), product design changes are inevitable. Marketing teams love launching new bottle shapes. Sustainability initiatives push for lighter or recycled materials. Retailers demand unique packaging designs for shelf differentiation.
If your bottle unscrambler or automatic bottle orienter can’t adapt, you’ll face:
• Costly machine modifications.
• Production delays.
• Downtime during changeovers.
• Additional CAPEX for new handling systems.
What to Look for in a Flexible Bottle Unscrambler
To future-proof your investment, consider equipment that offers:
• Wide format range compatibility.
From small vials to large containers: ensure the unscrambler can handle various sizes and shapes that can adapt to your future marketing needs.
• Quick and tool-free changeovers.
Look for systems that minimize downtime when switching formats. Even better: automatic changeover machinery (like the POSIFLEX unscrambler from POSIMAT).
• Proven adaptability to bottle materials and finishings.
Suppliers with experience in pharmaceutical bottle unscramblers, cosmetic packaging machinery, and food and beverage lines typically offer more flexible solutions since they can handle any type of bottle shapes, designs, and materials.
• Robust bottle handling technology.
Whether using rotary unscramblers, gravity-fed unscramblers, or robotic unscramblers, check for field-proven adaptability to different bottle geometries.
Final Tip
Before making your final decision, always ask the supplier: Can you show me references where your unscrambler handled multiple bottle types with minimal changeover effort? Ask for references and videos of similar bottles.
Next in our series: How Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and maintenance access can make or break your production line efficiency.