With many protections in place to fight the Coronavirus, simple soap and water continues to be a good weapon. With the CDC recommending washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, the already high demand for soap products has risen as people continue to do everything they can to slow the spread of COVID-19.

VKPAKaging liquid soaps can be done on both automatic and semi-automatic machinery, depending on the need of the specific project. Semi-automatic equipment will require an operator to interact with the machine during each cycle, such as placing bottles under filling nozzles or placing a cap on the bottle, while also activating the fill, cap or other function. Automatic machinery for soaps, which generate more speed, or bottles per minute, typically requires an operator to set up the machine prior to running production, but once running, the operator will only need to monitor the machinery and occasionally add bulk components such as product, bottles or caps.

Filling machinery for liquid soaps can take many different forms depending on the makeup of the soap itself. Many soaps are free-flowing liquids that allow overflow fillers and gravity filling machines to handle the product. Some of these products, on the other hand, tend to be more viscous and may even have particulates to help with the cleaning. For these products, pump and piston fillers may also be used to help the product move through the pathway and in to the bottles. As soaps are prone to foam when agitated during the fill, special steps may be taken to control such foam during the fill. The process or principle of the overflow filler helps to control foaming, while modifications to nozzles on the other three filling machines can help control the same.

While exceptions may apply, many liquid soaps will use a screw-on type closure to seal the bottles. These closures, however, can come in many different shapes and forms. Some may have simple flat caps that unscrew, while others may use flip-tops or the popular pump cap for user convenience. As a majority of the caps screw-on to the bottle, the spindle capper is probably the most popular capping machine for this industry. These capping machines use sets of spinning disks to tighten the caps as they pass through the disks on a power conveyor. For semi-automatic projects, a chuck capper may also be used depending on the type of screw-on cap that is being tightened.

Other equipment, such as rinsing machines for bottles prior to the fill and labeling equipment, are also available in both semi-automatic and automatic models to meet the needs of the different types of liquid soaps on the market. To learn more about filling machinery for liquid soaps and other cleaning products, contact a Packaging Specialist at VKPAK or use the VKPAK website to send in a request for a quote or info, which are found on every page of the website.