The World of Container Orienting

What in the world is ‘orienting’? It is the turning of containers on a production line so that all the containers are facing the direction required. In most cases it is done to make sure all the containers are heading into the filler or labeler with the same side of the container facing in one direction. Sometimes, however, it is done to correctly place containers into a case for shipping. In this situation, the containers may need to arrive at the case packer with three containers facing one way and the next three facing the other way with this configuration repeating over and over. No matter what it is used for, orienting is a function that is needed in many, if not all, production plants.

How is it done? Well, it can be done in numerous ways, such as mechanically, or electronically. In order for the orienter to know which containers to ‘orient’, it must be able to ‘sense’ or ‘see’ how the containers are aligned as they arrive at the machine. It then must be able to rotate only the containers not facing in the correct position. The amount of rotation can vary from 90° to 180 or 270°, depending on the shape of the container.

With all these options and requirements, it can be complicated for the uninitiated. New England Machinery (NEM) takes out the complication by offering numerous models of orienters. Since there are so many variations in orienting needs, NEM has designed different models each offering a unique means of sensing and turning the containers. It’s nice to know that there is a company that truly understands the complexity of packaging lines and designs machinery to handle those requirements.

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading packaging machinery 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 www.neminc.com.