When Pocket-Style Unscramblers Don’t Work.

New England Machinery (NEM) received a call from a customer who had a problem. They were using a pocket-style bottle unscrambler to feed their containers. The containers were being fed to the unscrambler from another room via an overhead bucket system. Occasionally the employee filling the buckets would put the wrong containers into them. As they traveled through the plant overhead, no one could tell what containers were in the buckets until they were emptied into the unscrambler. At that point it was too late to stop them from jamming up the unscrambler.

It would then take the company hours to lock out the machine and clean out the wrong containers. In many instances, the incorrect containers damaged the pockets and the pockets then needed to be replaced. The replacement parts were very expensive and took a long time to get from the manufacturer.

So the company turned to NEM for a solution to their problem. NEM built them its model NEHHLPE-72. This unscrambler is a real ‘work horse’. It handles their containers with ease giving them the production speed they need. But most importantly, now when an employee makes a mistake and sends the wrong containers to the unscrambler, the worse that happens is one of the containers gets jammed in the exit to the bowl. The operator only needs to open the door (which automatically stops the machine), pick out the jammed bottle and remove any incorrect size bottles, close the door, and push a button to re-start the machine. It can all be done in minutes, with no costly damage to any part of the machine. Removing the incorrect bottles is easy as the sorting bowl is at floor level. No ladders are required to get the components out of the machine.

The customer is very happy with NEM’s solution to their problem. A linear-style bottle unscrambler (like the model NEHHLPE-72), has a lot of advantages over a pocket-style unscrambler. They have a smaller footprint, don’t require tag-out to clear jams, they positively control the bottles, are simpler to adjust and changeover with minimal changeparts, can accommodate a large range of container sizes and shapes with easy adjustments, integrates well with any conveyor, is gentle non-marring of containers, some models can integrate an ionized air rinser, and some models offer an integrated hopper elevator to reduce floor space utilization. The linear-style bottle unscrambler is also less expensive. To learn more about the comparison of a pocket-style unscrambler versus a linear-style unscrambler, contact NEM at (941) 755-5550 or visit the website at: http://www.neminc.com/

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at http://www.neminc.com/.