Recommended configuration
Piston filler for bottles and jars; tube fill and seal machine for tubes
A piston doses a fixed volume on every stroke, from a stainless steel hopper fed from your mixing vessel
Lotions, creams and gels, thin or thick
Bottles and jars, plastic and aluminium tubes, sample sachets
10 ml to 5 litres on the piston fillers we have supplied; tubes of 20 to 300 ml; sachets from 2.6 ml
Screw capper, round bottle labeller, vacuum emulsifying mixer
These are the lotion and cream products our filling machines fill, with the pack each one usually goes into and the machine that fills it. The filler is set to the thickness of your product, and a trial on your own product confirms it.
Semi-automatic piston fillers. The single-head lotion filling machine we supplied to a cosmetics producer fills 10 ml to 1 litre and is rated at 20 to 40 fills a minute on 500 ml. A double-head piston filler we have supplied covers 50 to 500 ml or 500 ml to 5 litres at 20 to 70 a minute. Fill volume is set with a hand wheel.
Capping, labelling and automatic lines. A screw capper closes bottles with caps of 20 to 68 mm, and a semi-automatic round bottle labeller applies 15 to 30 labels a minute. For higher volumes, the automatic 6-head piston filler line we have supplied fills, caps and labels 100 ml to 1 litre bottles at 13 to 20 a minute on 500 ml. See the bottle filling machine.
Creams and gels in tubes. The semi-automatic tube filler-sealer we have supplied fills 20 to 300 ml into plastic, laminated and aluminium tubes at 8 to 16 tubes a minute, seals ultrasonically and embosses a batch code. A manufacturer ordered an automatic tube filler-sealer after trials on its own tubes; read the tube filler case study.
Cream and lotion samples in sachets. The liquid VFFS we supplied to a skin-care producer fills 2.6 to 60 ml, or 1 to 20 g, of lotion or cream into sachets at 30 to 60 a minute. Each sachet is sealed as a pillow pack and punched to its shape. See the sachet filling machines.
These are the fill ranges of the lotion and cream filling machines we have supplied. A size outside these ranges is specified at quotation.
| Pack | Machine | Fill range |
|---|---|---|
| Bottles and jars, small runs | Semi-automatic single-head piston filler | 10 ml to 1 litre |
| Bottles and large containers | Semi-automatic double-head piston filler | 50 to 500 ml, or 500 ml to 5 litres |
| Bottles, automatic line | 6-head automatic piston filler with capper and labeller | 100 ml to 1 litre |
| Tubes | Tube filler-sealer | 20 to 300 ml |
| Sample sachets | Liquid VFFS | 2.6 to 60 ml, or 1 to 20 g |
Semi-automatic piston fillers we have supplied are rated at 20 to 40 fills a minute (single head) and 20 to 70 (double head) on 500 ml, and the automatic 6-head line at 13 to 20 bottles a minute. The tube filler-sealer is rated at 8 to 16 tubes a minute and the sachet machine at 30 to 60. These are ratings of each build, not results measured on a customer’s line.
A thicker cream, a larger fill and the time an operator takes to place each pack all lower the output. We confirm the figure for your lotion or cream by running a trial before we quote.
We supplied a 60 litre vacuum emulsifying mixer, with water and oil pots, a scraper mixer and a bottom homogeniser, together with a semi-automatic single-head filler for 200 ml to 2 litres, a screw capper and a round bottle labeller.
For a cosmetics producer we supplied a semi-automatic single-head piston filler that fills 10 ml to 1 litre to within 0.5%.
For a skin-care producer we supplied a liquid VFFS that fills lotion and cream into shaped sachets of 2.6 to 60 ml, sealed as pillow packs and punched to shape.
A manufacturer ordered an automatic tube filler-sealer after trials on its own plastic tubes, to fill and seal faster than semi-automatic filling allowed. Read the case study.
Machines from our range for lotions and creams: a cream and lotion bottling line, piston fillers and a tube filler-sealer.
Fills, caps, checkweighs and labels creams and lotions on one line.
Piston filling for creams, lotions and pastes, hand-fed or automatic.
One filling head with an automatic capper, for smaller cream and lotion runs.
Loads, orients, fills, seals and trims plastic tubes of cream and gel.
A lotion and cream filling machine is quoted to configuration, so we need six things about your product and plant.
Your lotion, cream or gel and how thick it is, with a sample if you can
Your containers: bottles, jars, tubes or sachets, with samples
Your closures: screw caps, pumps or flip-top caps
Fill volumes and the output you plan for, now and as you grow
Whether you also need a mixer, a capper or a labeller
Floor space, power and compressed air at your plant
Send a sample of your lotion or cream with the containers and we will trial it before we quote. For layout planning, the 60 litre emulsifying mixer we supplied stands about 1.5 m by 0.6 m and 2.5 m high. For what shapes the figure on a machine quotation, read the packaging machine cost guide.
Lotions and creams are thick, they vary in thickness from one product to the next, and they are made in batches. Those points decide how a lotion and cream filling machine is set up.
Thick products are dosed by volume. A lotion pours slowly and a cream hardly pours at all, so gravity filling is no use. A piston pushes the same volume on every stroke whatever the thickness, and the semi-automatic piston fillers we have supplied fill to within 0.5%.
Creams are made in batches. A cream or lotion is heated and mixed in a batch before it is filled. The piston fillers we supply fill hot or cold, with the temperature set to suit the product, so the filler can take the batch straight from the mixer.
Cosmetics need clean changeovers. Producers run several lotions and creams on one filler. The piston filler hopper is polished SUS304 stainless steel, and the contact parts strip down for cleaning between products.
Lotions and creams are thick liquids, so this page sits under the liquid filling machines. For the wider cosmetics range, from serums and oils to dropper bottles, see the cosmetic filling machines.
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PackMan purchased an Automatic 6-Lane, 4-Side Seal Vinegar Packaging Machine, and it has been performing reliably since installation. The machine delivers consistent packaging quality, operates efficiently, and has met our production expectations.
SA Packaging Machinery delivered a solution that has met our expectations. The equipment has been reliable in daily production, and we’re pleased with its performance. We found the team knowledgeable, professional, and willing to assist whenever required.
We’ve been very happy with the equipment supplied by SA Packaging Machinery. It’s straightforward to use, performs consistently, and has helped us improve our production process. The team was easy to work with and made the entire experience smooth.
Send us a sample of your lotion or cream and the bottles, jars or tubes you use, and we will run it at our Riversands showroom before you order.
Yes. A piston filler doses by volume, so the same machine fills a runny lotion and a thick cream. The fill volume is set with a hand wheel and the filling speed with a throttle valve; changing product means cleaning the hopper and piston.
Yes. The piston fillers we supply fill hot or cold, with the temperature set to suit the product, so a cream can be filled straight from the mixer.
The piston fillers we have supplied cover 10 ml to 5 litres, with the range set by the cylinder fitted. Tubes run from 20 to 300 ml on the tube filler-sealer, and sample sachets from 2.6 ml on a liquid VFFS.
Yes. We have supplied a vacuum emulsifying mixer with a 10 to 60 litre working capacity that heats, mixes and homogenises creams and lotions, with separate water and oil pots.
Yes. Gels are thick like creams, so they are filled on a piston filler into bottles and jars, or on a tube filler-sealer into tubes.
