Automatic Filling and Bagging Machines

Applications

Weigh-filling machines are at work in almost every production or storage site where products are sold or shipped by weight:

• Grain and pulses: wheat, barley, maize and lentils shipped in bags or big bags
• Flour, feed and food: bagging flour, bran and feed; filling food liquids into jerrycans and pails
• Fertiliser and farm inputs: granular and polymer fertiliser
• Chemicals and paint: powdered chemicals in big bags, paints and solvent-based products in tins and drums
• Mining and construction materials: sand, pumice and mineral powders
• Solid fuels: wood pellets, coal and biomass
• Plastics and granular raw materials: free-flowing granules in bags and big bags

How to choose a filling machine

Even with the same product, two plants can need very different machines. These are the points we weigh up together when preparing a quotation:

1. Product form and flow. A free-flowing granular product, a powder that bridges and a liquid each need a completely different feed. Describing the flow correctly is half the work of choosing the right machine group.

2. Pack type and weight. A 25 kg open-mouth bag, a one-tonne big bag and a drum are not filled on the same machine. Once the pack is clear, the machine group more or less chooses itself.

3. Daily tonnage and real output. The same tonnage turns into a very different workload depending on the pack. 40 tonnes a day is 1,600 bags of 25 kg, or 40 big bags of 1000 kg. The first calls for a line with a high bag count per hour, the second for a station that fills fewer but much heavier packs.

4. Bulk density and volume. A light product needs a larger pack for the same weight. Bag or container size, the filling spout and even the ceiling height are planned from this figure, so we will ask how dense your product is.

5. Working environment. Dust extraction and enclosed filling for dusty products, Ex-proof equipment for liquids with flammable vapour and surface protection in humid areas should be considered from the start. Measures added later cost more and disrupt the line.

6. What happens after filling. Closing, moving and, where needed, re-checking each pack on a checkweigher set the pace of the line. However fast the filling machine is, the line produces only as much as its slowest link.

What decides accuracy in weigh filling?

There can be a gap between a filling machine’s accuracy on paper and the result achieved on site. Four factors decide the outcome. The first is the weighing system itself: stable readings from load cells and indicator. The second is the moment the flow is cut; the faster and more consistently the feed closes at the target, the less the amount of product still in flight varies. The third is how evenly the product flows; a product that surges gives scattered results even on a flawless weighing system, so a feed unit that delivers product at a steady rate matters as much as the weighing itself. The fourth is the environment: floor vibration, wind, or a hose or bag rubbing against the weighing zone all disturb the reading. Accuracy is therefore the result of installation and regular calibration as well as of the machine.

How to work out the return on investment

The return from a weigh-filling machine usually comes from two items: recovering product that was being overfilled, and reducing the labour spent on filling. A simple calculation with your own figures makes the case clear.

Overfill. Suppose a plant filling 50 kg bags by hand puts an average of 300 g extra in each bag so that none comes out short. Across 1,000 bags a day that is 300 kg, or 7.5 tonnes over 25 working days a month. That product leaves with the customer without appearing on any invoice. With weigh filling the average can be brought just above the target, so most of that loss is recovered.

Labour. If two people per shift are filling at the same plant and the machine reduces this to one, the saving equals one person’s annual cost. That person can be moved to more productive work elsewhere on the line.

Putting it together. Multiply the product recovered each month by its value per kilogram and add the monthly labour saving. Divide the cost of the machine and installation by this monthly total and you have a rough idea of how many months the investment takes to pay back. There are real gains that stay out of the sum too: fewer complaints and returns from short packs, and a dispatch schedule that becomes predictable.

Common mistakes when planning a project

• Sizing for the average: peak demand at harvest or in the busy season is left out
• Forgetting height: there is not enough room for the machine and full pack under the existing silo
• Describing the product in one word: “flour” or “paint”, with no information on flow, moisture, density or temperature
• Leaving the rest of the line for later: closing and conveying added afterwards do not keep pace
• Underestimating the environment: measures against dust and flammable vapour are bolted on after installation

What these mistakes share is information missing at the quotation stage. When the real conditions of the product and the plant are shared from the outset, both machine selection and installation run with far fewer surprises.

What information do we need from you?

A few details are enough for us to point you to the right group and model:

• The product, its physical form (powder, granules, coarse pieces, liquid) and its bulk density if known
• Pack type and fill weight: bag, big bag, tin, jerrycan or drum
• Target number of packs per day or per hour
• Where the product will come from and the approximate size of the installation area
• Any special conditions: heavy dust, flammable vapour, hygiene requirements

We reply to quotation requests within 3–4 hours.