Ampack is setting new standards in liquid food filling: the Syntegon company’s flexible FBL filling machine for preformed HDPE, PP, and PET bottles completes its modular offering.

With this expansion, Ampack is consolidating its position as a world market leader for aseptic applications. In addition to baby food and clinical nutrition, the newly developed machine can also be used to gently fill milk- and plant-based drinks, dairy products, and soups. “The FBL enables flexible and hygienic production,” says Oguz Karcier, Product Manager at Ampack. “The basis for this is a neck-handling system adapted to the FBL for fast bottle format changeovers, as well as an innovative hygiene and maintenance concept.” At Anuga FoodTec from March 19 to 22 in Cologne, Ampack will be providing comprehensive information about the new technology, which continues the success story of proven filling and sealing machines for preformed cups in clean to aseptic executions.

Modern handling

Bottle filling machine — Thanks to its flexible handling and sterilization system, the FBL fills different bottle formats and materials without damaging the product. (photo: Syntegon)

Liquid and viscous foods abound, each with different packaging requirements. The preformed bottles available to manufacturers are equally versatile – options include different materials, such as HDPE (for particularly high barrier protection), PP, and PET. With the FBL, Ampack is launching a multifunctional machine that fills bottles of all three materials with volumes between 50 ml and 1,500 ml in a time-saving manner.

To this end, Ampack has further developed a neck-handling system for the FBL to ensure faster bottle format changeovers. The bottles, which have been set up and checked for leaks in advance, are fed into the carrier plates via a gripper. The device grips the bottles by the neck and can quickly insert different bottle types into the carrier plates. Even collapsible formats, such as bottles with enteral nutrition, can be transported reliably thanks to neck-handling. “The system can be adapted to different bottle formats in just a few steps, enabling efficient transportation,” explains Karcier. A simple maintenance concept significantly enhances productivity: movable dosing stations support efficient inspection and maintenance of critical components.

The gentle dosing

Ampack has also redesigned the dosing stations. In addition to several fillers for highly sensitive and easy-to-dose products, the FBL offers gentle product filling. “Some liquid foods, such as clinical nutrition, foam a lot during filling. We have developed a special dosing process to prevent this. The result is low-foaming filling for the highest possible output,” emphasizes Karcier. Depending on the filling volume, the FBL can fill up to 36,000 bottles per hour. The bottle-filling machine also features the tried-and-tested SmartFill dosing concept, boasting high filling accuracy and simple handling.

Highest hygiene standards

With the FBL, Ampack has prioritized product safety. Thanks to its design in accordance with 3-A requirements, the filling and sealing machine meets the highest hygiene standards. This is further ensured through its innovative hygiene concept, which also increases production intervals – thanks to long-lasting sterility. For the reliable filling of sensitive products, the FBL separates production and mechanics in keeping with Ampack’s innovative tunnel design: the machine is equipped with an additional sterile chamber to minimize the risk of food contamination and enable greater product protection.

The FBL can be seamlessly combined with other systems. Like all Ampack systems, the filling machine has interfaces that allow easy integration with upstream and downstream machines, both mechanically and electronically. As a system provider, Ampack provides complete bottle-filling lines as well – from bottle production to screwing, sleeving, film shrinking and secondary and tertiary packaging.