Almost every producer in this category runs more than one kind of product. A vinaigrette and a barbecue sauce share a shelf and share nothing else. Add a chunky salsa, a nut butter and a jar of honey and you are asking one line to do four jobs.
That is the job we specify for: a machine sized around your real range, not around the easiest product in it.
What we pack in this category
| Product | What your line has to handle |
|---|---|
| Sauces | A viscosity range that can span your whole SKU list |
| Salsa | Solid pieces that have to dose as accurately as the liquid |
| Ketchup | Fast flavour changeovers without colour carried into the next run |
| Tomato sauces | Hot fill, and seals that survive a parcel network |
| Salad dressing | An emulsion that has to stay uniform from first jar to last |
| Peanut butter | Heavy product and a clean cut-off, pack after pack |
| Tahini | A container rim that stays clean enough to seal first time |
| Hummus | Consistent fill weight on a product that is unforgiving at the seal |
| Jam | Fruit pieces held evenly in a gel that sets as you fill |
| Honey | The thickest product you will run, without stringing or drips |
Where these lines are won
Your full range, not your average product
The distance between your thinnest and your thickest product is the single most useful number in this category, and it is the one most specifications leave out. Bring it to the table and the conversation gets a great deal more accurate — including an honest answer about whether one machine covers you or two will serve you better.
Consistency from the first jar to the last
Oil rises, solids settle, gel sets, honey crystallises. Product does all of this while a run is in progress, which is why a fill weight measured in the first minute says very little about the last hour. We specify for the end of the run.
A clean rim, every time
Thick product has a habit of ending up where the lid needs to bond. Get that right and seal failures largely disappear; get it wrong and no sealer on the market will rescue the pack. It is the detail that most often separates a line that runs from a line that returns.
The machine that fits
Jars, cups and tubs you buy in already made run on cup fill and seal, published at up to 120 cups per minute. Sachets, pouches and portion packs formed from film on the machine run on form fill and seal, published at 100–300 units per minute. Anything shipping in a bought-in tray runs on tray sealing.
Settling the container first removes two of those three immediately. The machine selector does that filtering from four answers if you would rather not read three product pages.
Worth having ready before you talk to anyone
Three numbers put you ahead of most buyers in this category: your thinnest and thickest products over the next two years, the largest solid piece that has to pass through a nozzle, and how often you switch flavour or allergen in a normal week. Bring those and any supplier worth using will give you a straight answer.