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Tube Filling Service

Tube Filling Service

by | Oct 10, 2023 | Filling Services

Our tube filling service is our guaranteed fastest, cheapest, most convenient service.

Tubes come to our factory, pre-sealed, pre-capped, and pre-printed from a single source and supplier.   Our Norden tubing machines quickly fill the tube, seal the tube, print a code onto the tube and eject the completed product ready to be boxed all from a single machine.  It’s the definition of streamlined filling.

A single machine setup with standardized packaging means labor, setup times, clean up, and scrap rate is extremely low.  Also, our Norden tubing machine was the first tubing machine designed to fill hand sanitizer, which can be a hazardous affair without necessary precautions.

Tubes are designed with utility while not compromising your brand’s aesthetic.

Tubes are a popular packaging with consumers because they are easily handled, recapped for reuse, and sealed for freshness.  Tubes can come with a variety of orifice sizes, ensuring consumers get the right application amount every time. 

Tubes can come in different dyed colors and coatings, millions of printed colors, and in a variety of different sizes, ranging from very small to 10 inches in length.

Tubes are more economical with less chance of supply-chain failure than bottles and jars.

In our article Tubes Beat Bottles we show how sourcing bottle components and individually shipping those components to BPI Labs can have anywhere between a 22% and 42% difference in cost.  That’s incredible margin you could be saving by working with a packaging designed to deliver best value.

When a component is unavailable for bottles or jars, substitute components must be found. Since tubes are entirely produced from a single manufacturer, they do not suffer the risks of large supply chains.  Moreover, BPI Labs has multiple good, domestic sources for tubes that we are ready to share with you.

Read more about the difference between tubes and bottles here.

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Bottle and Jar Filling Services

Bottle and Jar Filling Services

by | Oct 10, 2023 | Filling Services

Your formula possibilities are extensive with our array of bottle and jar filling equipment.

Your product, wet or dry, can be filled into a large variety of bottle and jar types. This is because we have many varied machines with different purposes. We have salt and powder augurs for filling dry product into jars, vacuum filling equipment that prevents mess for viscous liquids, fillers with modular filling heads for containers that vary in size, and rotary bottle filling equipment for fast production.

This equipment was selected to service the spectrum of product formulations, allowing our customers maximum control over product formula to packaging fit.

Bottle and Jar filling is automated to give you low-cost manufacturing.

Our bottle and jar filling equipment are augmented with automated cappers, bottle and jar loading, automated coders, labelers, taping, and induction sealing.  Every product you onboard or develop at BPI Labs will have a filling line designed to maximize your piece-per-minute production rate, which also allows us to give you accurate fulfillment forecasts

Automated labeling lets you service all your packaging needs at one manufacturer.

BPI Labs offers wrap-around, front-back, and stamped automated labeling for jars and bottles. These machines can operate extremely fast with precision, creating a perfect adhesion every time. However, this precision equipment does require some careful adherence to packaging design to get perfect outcomes.

See how you should design your labels for perfect application every time at this 3-part blog post.

We can service your unique packaging requirements with custom machines & tooling.

If our equipment does not meet your packaging requirements, BPI Labs can often spec new machinery and tooling to get the job done. We have had hand-built tools, devices, and machines made specially for our customers. Talk to your project manager to see if this is something we can accommodate you with at BPI Labs.

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BPI Labs Makes Bath Salts, Scrubs, and Powders

BPI Labs Makes Bath Salts, Scrubs, and Powders

by | Sep 6, 2022 | Filling Services

Bath salt, scrubs, and powder manufacturing at BPI Labs

BPI Labs offers bulk production and filling services for all kinds of personal care salts, scrubs, and powders.  Some of the products you can manufacture with us include bath salts, soaks, baby powders, dry shampoo, foot powders, effervescents, coffee scrubs, salt scrubs, and sugar scrubs. 

Our ribbon blenders can mix up to 8000 lbs per batch and we color your product by hand for a boutique feel. Our v-blender makes it possible to complete safe and friction-less mixing for reactive dry products like effervescents.

Private Label Salt Products
Three unique filling services available
  • Bags (Sachets): BPI Labs can fill your dry products into bags with zippers, spouts, and even fill them with spoons with some extra tooling.
  • Bottles/Jars: Bottle and jar filling that can fill containers ranging from a few ounces to five pound buckets.
  • Packets: Our facility can fill your dry product into first time and single use packets, useful for promotional unit sizes, travel, or medical markets.

Speak to a project manager at BPI Labs to hear about all our filling options and learn more details about how you can have your product packaged and filled.

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Part 2: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

Part 2: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

by | Oct 23, 2018 | Filling Services

Needs of perfect sticky labels continued:


We just discussed why you should choose containers with little or no complex curves in the labeling area of the container. This article continues our discussion by showing how to create label shapes that apply consistently, limitations on label dimensions, the varying types of labels we can apply to your container with automated machinery, and how you can get assurance that you have a perfect label to container fit.

Label Shape Matters

An automated labeling machine rolls labels onto a container.  The label first makes contact with the container and then the rest of the label uses the container’s inertia from the point of contact to apply the remaining material.  Creating intricately shaped labels with multiple initial points of contact can introduce challenges. Design your label to have a single, initial point of contact to achieve great results.

Example: The label to the left will be applied with the left-side top and bottom of the crescent contacting the container at nearly the same time.  If the container sits even at a slight angle when the label is applied, you could have a situation where the top of the crescent is applied first and then the bottom. 

When the rest of the label material is pulled onto the container the top contact point will pull more material over more time than the bottom contact point.  Consequently, a wrinkle will form towards the bottom of the label.  However, this becomes less likely if the label were applied from the right-side first, since there’s only one, large, initial point of contact.

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    Label width and height for roll-on labels

    Like Scotch Tape, the length of the label can be variable, which means the circumference of the container is not in anyway constrained.

    However, the height/width of the label is limited to 7 inches.  This limits how much of the height of the labeling area a label can cover, and without this limitation it becomes difficult to guarantee the proper application of a label to the container.

    Finally, we ask that all our customers allow a 1/16th of an inch space between the edges of the labeling area and the tops and bottoms of the label.  Without this extra tolerance, labels can sometimes exit the labeling area and enter areas of the bottle where complex curves exist.

      Label Varieties

      At BPI Labs, we can offer the following four labeling services:

      • Wrap-Around: It’s a single label that wraps around a container.
      • Double Sided: Two labels with a label applied to the front and the second to the back of a container.
      • Spot: A single label applied to the top of a jar or canister.  You must have a flat top for a lid.
      • Cylinder:  A label shaped slightly like a smile so that it will apply levelly on containers that have a bottom to top taper, or vice versa.

        Conclusion


        In this 3 part series we have tried to explain the four concerns we have with label application.  Since automated machinery applies your labels, the container should have a dedicated labeling area with only a single curve.  Your label design should have one large point of contact with the container to prevent uneven application of the label.  You’ll also need to choose a label application approach that suits your container and brand while keeping in mind the height limit for your label.  Finally, you should have BPI Labs test your labels on your containers prior to manufacturing.  But before you go, you should see how your label material is a critical last concern in part 3 of this series.

        Continue reading about ideal label material and some more reasons to have your labels tested…

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        Part 1: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

        Part 1: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

        by | Oct 22, 2018 | Filling Services

        Getting sticky labels right

        If you want that perfect package to product fit that screams quality to your customer and you plan to use sticky labels, then knowing how to make the perfect sticky label for your product container is essential.  To do this you should know a few things about how automated labeling machinery works.

        Here are some of the things you’ll learn in this 3 part article.  This first part discusses how your label area should not contain any complex curves.  In part 2, we list the different types of labels we can apply to your container and how to design a label shape that plays nicely with automated machinery.  Finally, in part 3, we discuss the material and conditions by which you should manufacture your labels in order to keep rework and scrap rates low.

         

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        Selecting Your Product’s Container

        Where the label goes on your personal care product’s container and how that area is shaped is an important consideration when choosing containers.  Many containers have something we call complex curves.  Complex curves exist where concave or convex angles or planes intersect on the container.  This is especially concerning when it happens in the labeling area of the container.  An example of a container with complex curves in the labeling area is the deodorant bottle pictured to the left.

        Picture Left: The deodorant bottle pictured has complex curves in the labeling area beneath the cap.  Interestingly, there is a small area on the lower cap area that would work with a wrap-around label.

          Why curves in the labeling area are a problem

          A label likes to follow the direction of a curve as it is being applied by an automated labeling machine. When multiple curves meet on a container in the labeling area then the label must negotiate and compromise its continuity between the curves. This situation typically results in crooked, pinched, broken, non-applied, or wrinkled labels. The sharper the angle between intersecting curves, the greater the likelihood of misapplying a label. However, this also means there are some cases where labels can be applied in areas where multiple curves meet.

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            Putting the principle to work in an example

            The container to the left has an hourglass design but it’s depth (base) is rectangular shaped.  Consequently, this container has complex curves, but only on the sides and not on the front and back facing areas.  This container would be an ideal candidate for a front-back label (discussed in the part 2), but not a wrap-around label.  Even though the front face is slightly curved, this isn’t a problem.  Labels don’t mind following a curve; they just don’t like trying to follow multiple curves.

              CONCLUSION

              If you’re thinking to yourself, “So my container just needs a flat space (curved plane) for the label,” then you are not far from the mark.  However, whenever the plane of the label area is intersected with another curve (or plane), new complications tend to arise.  BPI Labs always tries to complete a test on your bottle’s label so that you can have the certainty that comes from a test.  Before you go, you should look at label shape and material in part 2 of this article to see why those variables are so critical.

              Continue reading about ideal label shapes and some important limitations on dimensions.

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                Part 3: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

                Part 3: Perfect Sticky Label Needs

                by | Oct 19, 2018 | Filling Services

                Part 3: Sticky labels continued

                Any manufacturer will tell you that scrap and rework make manufacturing vastly more expensive and time-consuming.  The wrong label material makes rework and scrap likely, so you should keep reading to see what kinds of labels keep your jobs cost-effective.

                You’ll read about the three properties your label media/material must have to keep scrap and rework minimal in this article.  You will also read a little about our label testing, and we’ll provide you with a link to download our label specifications sheet for your reference.

                You can download our label specifications sheet here.

                Manufacturing Your Product’s Label

                Before having your labels made, be certain they have the following three properties:

                Semi-permanent Adhesive: A label backed with semi-permanent adhesive will prevent product scrap. Left behind residue from a bad label will cause us to scrap the product unit because a new label won’t apply correctly and it won’t look good either.  With semi-permanent adhesive, a label will peel off your personal care product’s container without leaving any residue behind.

                Plastic Material: A Labels work best when your label is made from plastic material. When your label is made of paper, it is more likely to tear or wrinkle when applied by an automatic labeling machine. Paper labels also make any rework much more difficult to complete. The plastic label will have a backing, and it is okay if the backing is paper, which is typical.

                No Deep Die Cuts: A Die-cutters carve out the shape of your label design into the label’s plastic material when manufactured, like a cookie cutter. A die-cut is too deep when it has pierced past the plastic material and into the paper roll backing to which your labels are adhered. Often a deep die-cut will cause your roll of labels to rip in half during labeling, and production can continue only after the the label machine is reset, which can take several minutes. You can imagine how long production will take if this happens every third label.

                Don’t order your labels before we’ve tested them at our facility.  First, send your label manufacturer our label specifications sheet.  Then have them produce a small roll of about 10 labels to have BPI Labs test.  We will verify that the test labels are compatible with your product’s container and our automatic labeling machines.

                You can download our label specifications sheet here.

                Conclusion

                BPI Labs has seen many customers dismayed with how poorly their labels performed in manufacturing, and we highly encourage our customers to benefit our learned lessons. Ordering labels made of the right material and testing your labels before purchasing them guarantees you will not lose money on scrap, rework, redesign, lost time, and repurchase of labels.

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