Liquid Packaging FAQs

Start with two factors: viscosity and fill accuracy requirement.

• Thin-to-medium viscosity, clear containers: Overflow filling — consistent visual fill level, recirculates excess product back to tank
• Strict weight or label accuracy requirements: Net weight filling (load cell) or flowmeter filling (electromagnetic or mass-flow) for volumetric accuracy
• Thick, viscous products (lotions, gels, creams, conditioners): Piston or positive displacement pump filling — handles high viscosity with repeatable volumetric accuracy
• Non-carbonated beverage under 120 BPM: Overflow filling — the industry standard for lines requiring frequent changeovers or CIP capability
• Free-flowing, water-thin products at moderate speeds: Gravity filling — simple, lower cost, best for single-SKU lines with stable conditions
• High-speed beverage or multi-product lines above 120 BPM: Rotary filling — high-throughput, precision-engineered for speed

If your product spans more than one category, or you're running a multi-SKU line, share your full product list and we'll help identify the technology that fits the broadest range of your production requirements.

Explore filling technologies →

Overflow filling fills to a fixed visual level — product rises to a set height and excess returns to the tank via a recirculation port. Every container gets the same visible fill line regardless of minor volume variations between containers. Best for clear bottles where fill appearance matters.

Net weight filling fills to a target mass using load cells. Every container receives the same weight — not the same visual level. Best when regulatory compliance, label weight claims, or multi-SKU viscosity variation makes level-based filling inadequate.

The practical choice: if you have clear containers and don't have strict label weight requirements, overflow is usually the simpler, lower-cost option. If you have regulatory filing requirements, customer weight guarantees, or run products with varying densities, net weight is the right call.

Yes — but the line architecture needs to be designed for it. Key considerations:

• Viscosity range: If your SKU range spans thin liquids and thick gels, you may need separate filler technologies or a piston/PD pump filler with adjustable configuration
• Container format range: Multiple bottle sizes require adjustable guides, conveyors, and fill head height settings — or tooling changes
• Changeover time: High-SKU lines need changeover-optimized designs — quick-release fittings, tooling-free adjustments where possible, documented settings per SKU
• Product compatibility: Cross-contamination risk between products affects flush/clean procedures and sequence scheduling

We've built high-SKU lines (100+ SKUs) for chemical and personal care clients. The key is designing the changeover strategy from the start, not as an afterthought.

Fill speed (bottles per minute) is determined by: fill volume, product viscosity, number of fill heads, and dwell time required for complete fill. It is not simply a machine specification you can pick from a catalog.

Key variables:

• Fill volume: A 1 oz fill is faster than a 1 gallon fill — even on the same machine
• Viscosity: Thin products fill faster than thick ones; piston fillers slow down more with viscosity than overflow systems
• Head count: More fill heads = higher total throughput at the same cycle time
• Cycle time: Container indexing, nozzle descent/ascent, dwell time, and retraction all add to the cycle

Always specify sustained production speed — not peak speed. Micro-stops, changeovers, and operator interventions are not accounted for in machine specs.

In many food, beverage, and pharmaceutical applications, yes — especially for glass bottles, which accumulate particulate during shipping and storage. In chemical and many personal care applications, a rinser is not always required but may be specified by brand standards or retailer requirements.

Air rinsers are the most common in our core markets (edible oils, beverage, personal care). They invert the container, blast filtered compressed air through the neck, and return the container upright before it enters the filler.

Learn about container rinsing systems →

A full-scope integration includes:

• Scope definition: Throughput targets, SKU requirements, container specs, utility availability, facility constraints — translated into a documented execution roadmap
• Engineering and layout: Equipment interfaces, routing, service access, power distribution, compressed air, process flows — engineered into a buildable plan
• Mechanical installation: Placement, anchoring, guarding, conveyor runs, accumulation, and all mechanical connections
• Electrical infrastructure: Transformers, subpanels, conduit runs, equipment drops, panel integration
• Utilities: Compressed air supply, sizing, filtration, zone valves, and routing
• Controls coordination: PLC interfaces, I/O connections, E-stop circuits, operator interface commissioning
• Commissioning: Dry runs, wet runs, interface tuning, throughput verification, and documentation delivery
• Training: Operator and maintenance training on all line equipment before handoff

See the full integration process →

Equipment resellers sell machines and hand them off. We integrate systems and own the result.

The difference in practice:

• A reseller delivers a filler. We deliver a filler that's mechanically placed, electrically connected, utility-supplied, PLC-integrated, tuned, and commissioned to your throughput target.
• A reseller's scope ends at delivery. Ours ends when the line performs to agreed metrics — throughput, fill accuracy, uptime, and QA outcomes.
• A reseller doesn't coordinate the conveyors, the capper, the labeler, the electrical distribution, or the compressed air. We do.

The practical consequence: without an integration owner, the finger-pointing between OEMs during commissioning becomes your problem. With Flowtek, it's ours.

Yes. The majority of our projects are retrofits and expansions inside active production facilities. We work around your production schedule, shift constraints, and sanitation requirements.

Key elements of working in a live plant:

• Installation is phased and sequenced to avoid impacting running lines
• Electrical work that requires shutdowns is scheduled for planned downtime windows
• All contractors and personnel follow client safety and sanitation protocols
• Coordination with your maintenance and EH&S teams is built into project execution

We've executed same-day go-lives during facility relocations, and we've expanded capacity inside live chemical and food-grade plants without production interruption.

Commissioning begins after mechanical and electrical installation and includes:

• Dry runs: Line run without product — container flow, timing, mechanical function, e-stop verification
• Wet runs: Live product fill, capping, and full line function at speed
• Interface tuning: Filler-to-capper timing, conveyor speeds, accumulation strategy
• Throughput verification: Sustained production at agreed BPM target
• Quality verification: Fill accuracy, cap torque, label placement within spec
• Operator training: Changeover procedures, daily maintenance, fault clearing
• Documentation delivery: As-builts, panel schedules, validated settings per SKU, maintenance guides

Commissioning is complete when the line meets agreed performance metrics — not when equipment is mechanically running. Pass criteria are defined at project kickoff so there's no ambiguity at handoff.

Infrastructure is typically excluded from equipment budgets because it's "facility work" — which means it often ends up in neither the equipment budget nor the facility budget until equipment arrives on the floor and there's nothing to plug it into.

What goes wrong when infrastructure is retrofitted after equipment is placed:

• Electrical drops in the wrong location — conduit runs conflict with equipment, maintenance access, or sanitation paths
• Undersized panel capacity — additional equipment trips breakers or requires a new panel mid-project
• Compressed air pressure drops — mains or branch lines undersized for the combined pneumatic load at full line speed
• No expansion capacity — next line addition requires another full electrical buildout

We include utility infrastructure in the core integration scope from day one. It's not "extra" — it's what makes the rest of the work hold.

Learn about utilities & infrastructure integration →

Our primary industries are:

• Edible oils: Olive oil, seed oils, avocado oil, specialty edible products — tank farm integration, overflow filling, high-speed packaging lines
• Beverage & distilled spirits: RTDs, wines, spirits, specialty beverages — rinsers, overflow filling (industry standard under 120 BPM), rotary filling at higher speeds, ROPP capping, labeling
• Industrial & household chemicals: Corrosion-resistant lines, explosion-proof electrical, high-SKU architectures, containment infrastructure
• Personal care: Body washes, liquid soaps, shampoos, lotions — overflow, piston, and positive displacement pump filling, induction sealing, retail-grade integration

We also work with pharma and nutraceutical liquid manufacturers, contract packagers, and CPG brands establishing new production operations.

Browse all industries →

Flowtek North America is based in Los Angeles and executes projects across North America. Our team is structured for field execution — we travel to projects and maintain on-site presence through installation and commissioning regardless of geography. We've executed projects across the continental US including East Coast facility buildouts and Midwest manufacturing operations.

The most useful starting information is:

• Product type and viscosity (or viscosity range if multi-product)
• Container format(s) — size, material, neck finish
• Throughput target (sustained BPM, not peak)
• Facility situation — new facility, existing plant retrofit, or expansion
• Timeline or constraints

You don't need a fully defined scope to start. Share what you know and we'll help structure the questions that fill the gaps. No commitment required to begin a technical conversation.

Start a conversation →

Yes. Post-commissioning support includes:

• Ramp-to-rate support: On-site presence during early production to address issues before they become embedded problems
• On-call technical support: Remote and on-site troubleshooting for line performance issues
• EW-PM programs: Ongoing electrical and preventive maintenance programs for sustained uptime
• Operator training: Follow-on training as new operators are onboarded
• Expansion planning: Capacity planning and next-phase integration for growing operations

We've maintained sustained relationships with clients across multi-year growth phases — from initial line installation through multiple expansions. That long-term engagement is part of our model for contract manufacturing and scaling operations in particular.