What Does a Bottle Orienter Do?

It is quite fascinating to visit a production plant and see the products that seem to magically appear on store shelves actually come to life. The unscrambler usually starts the line feeding the containers in single file onto the conveyor to make their way to the filler, labeler, case packer, truck and eventually the store. But what happens if the container has to be placed on the conveyor with the same side facing out each time?

There are many situations where the unscrambler simply stands the container on the conveyor without heed to orientation. When this occurs and makes a difference due to filling or labeling requirements, the production line needs a bottle orienter. There are many different methods of properly orienting a container on a production line.

Orienters are often called ‘secondary orienters’. This is because the act of the unscrambler standing the container up on the conveyor is considered primary orienting. It is orienting the bottle with the opening on top and the closed end placed on the conveyor. The orienter (or secondary orienter) then turns any containers that are not aligned in the proper position. This could be turning bottles necessary to align an off-set neck to be all in the same direction. It could be turning bottles to allow the bottle handles to all face the same direction. Or, in the case of display packaging, it might be required to turn a certain number of bottles in one direction and the equal number of the next set of bottles in the other direction so that the case packer can place them in a carton in a specific way.

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.