In order to guarantee your customers’ and end users’ safety, packaging your liquid chemical products correctly is vital. Liquid chemical manufacturing is an extremely technical arena, and one that not every contract manufacturing vendor is equally positioned to handle effectively.
In addition to package sizing, there’s also other issues that must be incorporated when the project goes to spec. For cleaning materials, packaging solutions have to address varying viscosities. Whether you’re selling concentrates or RTU’s, a reputable manufacturing vendor also should have the ability to utilize packaging appropriate for your product spectrum.
Automation and Efficiency
Your partner needs the right equipment and machinery to get all of their orders off the line and to each client’s distribution center on time. Contract manufacturing vendors offer similar services, but where they often differ is the type of processes and equipment they have on the floor.
Bottle filling machinery used for liquid cleaning products is highly specialized. That specialization includes the mixing and handling of potentially dangerous materials. The filling process is quite sensitive and precise; if it’s not set correctly, the machinery might overfill bottles, cause splatter on the labels, or cause other issues that could interfere with product consistency. That means, in addition to the equipment itself, a manufacturer has to recruit and retain skilled technicians, chemists, and engineers to operate and maintain it.
Manual Processes For Quality and Customization
Automated processes have, without question, revolutionized all aspects of engineering and manufacturing. A quality-driven liquid contract manufacturer will still know where and how to insert human intelligence into the process to ensure brand integrity.
Simply put: Machines can’t do everything. Adding certain decorations, like hang tags or special coupons, often requires human hands. Additionally, aspects of batch control and QC processes need human intervention from highly experienced staff.
In addition to the upfront investment of the actual equipment, how that equipment is maintained, tested, and improved is crucial. Product testing throughout the bottling process is a must. Automation can greatly drive costs per product down; however, key factors like product temperature can easily impact the final characteristics of your product.
For example, at PCI, our teams pull three bottles per production lot per shift every day for testing. Our internal testing and maintenance protocols also include:
- Tolerances
- Accuracy ratios (to prevent waste)
- Correct labeling
- Fill weights
- Any other aspects to satisfy cGMPs of the packaging industry
Package Design Based on Product Viscosity
Many products are very sensitive to temperature changes. Unmonitored and unplanned temperature fluctuations can have a ruinous effect on viscosity, and so your product’s unique characteristics. Maintaining constant temperature throughout the manufacturing and filling process is important to guarantee fill accuracy and the reliability of the final product.
Viscosity also defines the type of dispensing packaging that will give your customers the best experience. Your vendor will ideally be prepared to advise on the right dispenser for your product like:
- Trigger sprays
- Pour tops
- Pumps
- And more
Knowledge Base of Various Product Characteristics
An experienced contract manufacturer will be able to advise on what type of plastic or material to use based on the contents within it. For example, if the contents are corrosive, food grade, etc, then different packaging, achines, and processes are needed.
Ideally, this entire process is highly collaborative. No matter the type of product, from water-thin disinfectants to highly-viscous soaps and detergents, any liquid chemical manufacturing vendor with the right knowledge base should be prepared to advise and consult on the right dispensing solution.
Best Practices for Liquid Contract Manufacturing and Liquid Products
Standardized processes are designed to protect product safety and quality for end users. Best practices in the liquid chemical manufacturing arena will ideally comply with Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) as defined by the FDA for pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities (under the related to Public Health Safety Act). When a liquid chemical vendor follows those defined protocols to produce and package safe, effective medications for consumers, that’s a sign the facility adheres to the industry’s highest standards.
For example, PCI follows cGMPs to
- Protect product integrity
- Ensure consistency throughout the entire manufacturing process
- Verify ingredient purity in our entire supply chain (from raw ingredient to final packaged product
That level of consistency protects and maintains quantity across every single bottle or package in our manufacturing plant. We test the purity of incoming ingredients all the way to finished good as it’s headed to our clients’ the distribution centers.
We also retain samples in the event of any future collaboration with our customers based on specific tainted batches or product safety issues.
Trust PCI For Your Liquid Packaging Needs
PCI has the capacity to package your liquid cleaning products. Our St. Louis manufacturing facility includes eight stainless steel and poly mixing vessels from 40 to 4,000 gallon capacity, all controlled and operated through a master PLC system. We also have a completely separate production area that houses four filling and processing lines, with capacity ranging from 1 fluid oz. to 1-gallon containers
Our climate-controlled production facility and warehouse is designed to store both raw materials and finished goods to ensure a highly safe and effective final product.
For more information about working with our in-house chemists and product experts, contact us today.