The Development History and Applications of Packaging Machinery

Packaging machinery has developed with the advent of new packaging materials and the continuous innovation of packaging technology. China's invention of papermaking technology historically provided the conditions for the production of paper packaging.

In 1850, the world's paper prices plummeted, and paper packaging began to be used for food.

In 1852, Wally in the United States invented a paper bag machine, thus creating paper product machinery.

In 1861, the world's first packaging machinery factory was established in Germany, and in 1911, it produced a fully automatic forming, filling, and sealing machine.

In 1890, the United States began producing liquid filling machines, and in 1902, it produced gravity filling machines. At the beginning of the 20th century, Durand in the United Kingdom used metal containers to preserve food, thus creating various canned foods.

Since the 1960s, new materials have gradually replaced traditional packaging materials, especially after the use of plastic packaging materials, packaging machinery has undergone significant changes. The rise of supermarkets has put forward new requirements for commodity packaging. To ensure the quick and safe transportation of goods, containers have emerged, and container sizes have gradually been standardized and serialized, thus further improving and developing packaging machinery.
 

The role of packaging machinery: Packaging is a necessary condition for products to enter the circulation field, and the main means of achieving packaging is the use of packaging machinery. With the development of the times and technological progress, packaging machinery is playing an increasingly important role in the packaging field. Its main functions are as follows:

(1) It can greatly improve labor productivity. Mechanical packaging with a slide-type thermoforming sealing machine is much faster than manual packaging. For example, for candy packaging, manual packaging can only package a dozen pieces per minute, while a candy packaging machine can reach hundreds or even thousands of pieces per minute, increasing efficiency by tens of times.

(2) It can effectively ensure packaging quality. Mechanical packaging can, according to the requirements of the packaged items, obtain packaging materials of consistent specifications in the required shape and size, which cannot be guaranteed by manual packaging. This is particularly important for export goods. Only mechanical packaging can achieve standardized and standardized packaging specifications and meet the requirements of collective packaging.

(3) It can achieve operations that cannot be achieved by manual packaging. Some packaging operations, such as vacuum packaging, gas packaging, close-fitting packaging, and isobaric filling, cannot be achieved by manual packaging and can only be achieved by mechanical packaging.

(4) It can reduce labor intensity and improve working conditions. Manual packaging has a high labor intensity. For example, manually packaging large and heavy products is both physically demanding and unsafe. For small and light products, due to the high frequency and monotonous movements, workers are prone to occupational diseases.

(5) It is conducive to workers' labor protection. For some products that seriously affect health, such as products with severe dust, toxicity, stimulation, or radioactivity, manual packaging inevitably harms health, while mechanical packaging can avoid this and effectively protect the environment from pollution.

(6) It can reduce packaging costs and save storage and transportation costs. For loose products such as cotton, tobacco leaves, silk, and hemp, using a compression packaging machine to compress and package them can greatly reduce the volume, thereby reducing packaging costs. At the same time, due to the significant reduction in volume, storage space is saved, storage costs are reduced, and transportation is facilitated.

(7) It can reliably ensure product hygiene. For certain products, such as food and medicine packaging, manual packaging is not allowed according to hygiene laws because it can contaminate products, while mechanical packaging avoids direct contact between hands and food and medicine, ensuring hygiene quality.