Nutraceuticals World (NW): What are the challenges of filling gummy products?    

Mark Navin, Vice President of Sales, Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery Inc.: The flow characteristics of gummies make them difficult to fill, especially into rigid containers. The design of vitamin bottles generally involves a narrow opening, which relative to the piece size of the gummy typically does not allow all the product to be dropped into the bottle at once without bridging. To accurately fill a bottle, the product must be metered and strung out so the flow does not bind within the opening.

NW: How did Spee-Dee get involved with packaging nutraceutical gummy products?

Navin: One of our partners introduced us to a company that was transforming from a candy business to nutraceuticals. As part of the transformation, they needed to invest in a bottling line that could handle the output from their gummy mogul.

Spee-Dee invested a significant amount of R&D into finding a way to eliminate the bridging problem. We tried using air to “blast” the product into the container and we experimented with all sorts of 3D printed inserts in the funnels and different shaped container adapters before settling on the patented streaming system.

NW: What technology was developed to meet the requirements of this market?

Navin: The High-Speed Rotary Filler was introduced to the marketplace with capabilities to fill 180 bottles per minute on a 60-count product. The patented streaming system aligns the gummy products in a row that allows them to flow into a narrow container opening without bridging, which we call “singulating” the gummies. This translates to being able to fill more containers per minute.

In addition to preventing bottlenecks, we focused on the need for sanitary design, which is especially important for nutraceutical gummy applications. We made the machine more user-friendly by equipping it with magnetic funnels which use no fasteners. Tool-less product changeover is essential to the nutraceutical industry, which runs a considerable number of different container sizes and counts.

NW: What technologies are used to measure gummies?

Navin: Both combination scales and electronic counters are used for measuring gummies, but application, desired output, and preference largely determine which technology our customers choose.

NW: Any new technologies being developed for the gummy nutraceutical industry? 

Navin: We will be introducing the 12 pocket Compact Rotary at PACK EXPO International this fall. This is a smaller, more economical machine designed to fill up to 70 bottles per minute. This machine can be integrated with a single discharge combination scale or electronic counter. Like our high-speed rotary, it features the same quick changeover features, which include magnetic funnels that don’t require fasteners and tool-less product changeover components, making it ideal for nutraceutical gummies that require many changeovers.