Adventures in Packaging
KC Boxbottom, packaging detective, is on the case to solve tough packaging puzzles
The case of the funky photoeye
The call came while I was relaxing with the latest Packaging Digest and a cup of 100-mile coffee. It was Sandy and she was having a problem with her filler. Sometimes bottles would stop under the nozzles. Sometimes they wouldn’t. It sounded like it would be either fairly simple to fix or really hard. Other commitments prevented me from going to the plant so we figured we would try some assi ...... Read More
Comments (0)The case of the crooked bottle
I hadn’t even had my first coffee when the call came. Joseph was having trouble with labels. As always, he needed me yesterday. I got on site and he showed me his problem. It was a tall 16-oz round bottle. The pressure-sensitive label covered it top to bottom with a 365-deg wrap. The label ends did not align at the overwrap. His customer, a chain store, was complaining. “We adjust th ...... Read More
Comments (2)The case of the hungry capper
Oscar called to tell me his capper was hungry. “Well, you better feed it,” I told him. “I’m trying but my cap feeder just won’t keep up. It is starving the capper,” he told me. “I’m on my way.” A bit later I was on Oscar’s floor with eyeballs on the capper. It had a vibratory cap orienter/feeder to supply the caps. These are pre ...... Read More
Comments (1)The case of the troublesome tops
. I had just gotten to the office and was about to get into my first cup of coffee when Sam got my ear with the phone. “KC, I can’t get consistent torque on my caps. I need help now!” she told me. The marvels of modern movement soon had me in her plant in front of her chuck capper. “So what seems to be the problem, Sam?” I inquired. “We have a setup fixtur ...... Read More
Comments (2)The case of the loose line speed
. I was at the donut shop when Francisco sat down with his sinkers and joe. After the howdies, he told me his problem. “KC, I can’t keep my packaging line balanced,” he confided. “We documented the optimum speed settings in the setup SOP. They should be stable but whenever I look the conveyor is running a different speed even though the control is set correctly. It ...... Read More
Comments (1)The case of the perforated package
. “My suckers don’t suck,” Jimmy told me over the phone. “I need some help.” Some things don’t suck; others do. This was clearly a case of the former, and I was on my way to see Jimmy’s problem. When I got to the plant, he showed me his case erector. An arm with two vacuum cups pulled the case blank out of the magazine across the breaker bar to open ...... Read More
Comments (3)The case of the spotty slacks
. I was at Jan’s plant helping out with some OEE (overall equipment efficiency) issues on the packaging line. Everyone had been friendly all week, but now as I walked to the cafeteria I noticed some of the teammates looking at me funny and laughing behind their hands. “What’s up,” I asked Jan. “Why the funny looks?” “Look at your pants.” Jan ...... Read More
Comments (2)The case of the unstable label
“My labels are wandering,” said Kelley. “Well, that’s no good; they need to stay at home where you can keep an eye on them,” I quipped. Kelley didn’t appreciate the humor but asked me to come take a look. The labeler detected the gap between labels with a photo eye to position the label at the edge of the peeler plate. This label was transparent, and the e ...... Read More
Comments (3)The case of the short ceiling
Gerry’s message was garbled. All I could make out was “legs … cut … off. Get here fast.” From the message, I was not sure whether I was going to a packaging line or a crime scene. When I got to the plant Gerry took me to the aseptic clean room (Class 100, laminar flow ceiling). There was a new bottle orienter, lying on its side because it was too tall to stand up ...... Read More
Comments (1)The case of the sloppy spec
. “Speed is only a question of money. How fast do you want to go?” This is as true on a packaging line as it was in the movie Mad Max. Bobbie was qualifying a new cartoner. He had purchased an inkjet printer for coding and the code quality was horrible so he called me in. I watched them try to run. The ink dots were spread out to the point of illegibility. “Fiddlesticks ...... Read More
Comments (3)The case of the high-speed slows
Alex was on the blower sounding confused. “KC, it seems like the faster we go, the behinder we get. I’m not meeting my production numbers and don’t know what to do. Can you help?” The answer to that is always “Yes!”. After all, I am the Packaging Detective. Soon after we hung up I was with Alex in his plant and he was showing me the problem. The product w ...... Read More
Comments (4)The case of the crooked cartons
Tommy called me with a problem. “Our cartoning machine won’t stay in adjustment,” he confided. “Some days it is so bad that I have to keep a mechanic babysitting it. I need your help ASAP-get off your duff and get here!” I moved quickly and soon had eyes on the machine. Tommy and I watched for just a few minutes. Sure enough, it jammed. It appeared that the carr ...... Read More
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