A South African hardware packer was counting screws into bags by hand. After trials on our floor model, we supplied a 10-head multihead weigher on a VFFS machine that fills 50 screws per bag by weight.
The customer packs screws and hardware components for distribution and resale, 50 screws to a bag. As demand grew, counting screws into bags by hand could not keep up, and the customer needed a faster, more consistent way to fill every bag with the right quantity.
Manual counting was slow, labour-intensive and open to mistakes.
Counting screws by hand limited packing speed and tied up labour on a repetitive task.
Screw quantities varied between bags, with a risk of counting errors.
The manual process could not grow with production.
We recommended a 10-head multihead weigher on a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine, because the weigher makes up 50 screws per bag by weight instead of by hand count, and the VFFS machine forms, fills and seals each bag in one process.
Screws are fed to the multihead weigher, which combines heads to make up each portion by weight and drops it into a bag the VFFS machine forms and seals.
| Machine | SAP-420 VFFS machine |
| Weigher | 10-head multihead weigher |
| Product | Screws |
| Fill | 50 screws per bag, by weight |
| Machine supplied | The floor model used in the trials |
Model codes shown are machines we have supplied and configured for previous projects. Your machine is specified and configured to suit your product, output and pack format — not supplied off the shelf.
The customer’s screws were tested extensively on our floor model before the machine was chosen.
The customer’s screws were run on the 10-head weigher VFFS floor model.
Product flow and weighing consistency were evaluated.
The machine configuration was confirmed as the best fit for the screws.
Further tests confirmed packing accuracy and repeatability.
With the customer’s approval, the floor model was bought and put into production.
The customer now fills 50 screws per bag by weight, faster and more consistently than by hand, with less labour spent on counting. It said it was satisfied with the machine, which runs reliably and consistently in daily production.
Every bag is made up to 50 screws by the multihead weigher.
The machine runs consistently in daily production.
Packing speed went up and less labour goes into counting.
The clip shows a multihead weigher VFFS line like the one supplied. The playlist shows more VFFS machines.
Our YouTube playlist of vertical form-fill-seal machines.
Video demonstrations of every machine type we supply, filmed in the workshop and on site.
Start from your product, your pack and the output you need, as this project did.
How a multihead weigher makes up portions by weight, and which setup suits your product.
The bagging machine the weigher sits on, with its configurations.
How a hardware packer shrink wraps stacks of grinding discs with a retail card on top.
Send us your product, the quantity per bag and the output you need. We can run it on a machine at our Riversands showroom and come back with a recommendation or quotation.
