Prominent Detergent Manufacturer Solves Overage Issues with Next-Gen Cremer Counting Machines

Cremer, a leading supplier of product counting machines in the U.S. for a wide array of applications, recently helped a prominent manufacturer of laundry pods and dishwashing pacs virtually eliminate product wastage due to overage. The project, which also included mitigating the effect of detergent products’ inherent stickiness, centered around Cremer’s HQ Series, a line of compact counting and packaging machines providing fast, reliable and cost-efficient counting solutions for a variety of items.

The detergent products manufacturer, which has facilities in North America and Europe, enjoys an exemplary record of customer satisfaction. But despite having converted much of its end-of-line inspection to counting operations, some lines were still using traditional weighing techniques. To prevent reputation-damaging undercounts, the detergent manufacturer was erring on the side of caution.

The result was an abundance of overage; for every 20 dish detergent pacs it was giving one away for free – an attrition rate of an unwieldy 5 percent. Considering the high-speed nature of its filling process, this amounted to more than a million giveaways per month, at a cost well into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Stickiness was another concern. Liquid laundry pods are made by water soluble film through a mold. The film is placed over the drum and vacuumed, then filled with the liquid detergent or combination of detergent, softener and/or scent. When the product emerges it is sticky, making precise dosing a challenge.

The detergent manufacturer decided to forgo weighers or robot picking entirely, and instead install several machines from Cremer’s HQ Series. Available in HQ, HQF and HQI models, the versatile counting machines can reportedly be used for a wide variety of pods – either in bulk quantities or single piece discharges into any package. The HQ Series is scalable for varying production levels depending on product type and output, including the high volumes typically found in detergent manufacturing.

The new Cremer HQ Series counters are also reportedly better at separating stickier items than preceding models. Additionally, the laned system helps diminish downtime associated with maintenance and cleaning.

For more information, visit https://www.cremer.com.