Personal Care & Cosmetics
Personal Care & Cosmetic Filling Solutions
Personal care and cosmetic products range from lotions, creams, and serums to shampoos, body washes, gels, and other liquid or semi-liquid formulations. Differences in viscosity, flow behavior, formulation, foaming characteristics, packaging format, and production requirements all affect the choice of filling method, metering system, product-contact materials, and cleaning and maintenance procedures. Therefore, different products also present different filling requirements:
- Lotions and creams: Their higher viscosity requires stable product transfer and accurate dosing.
- Shampoos and body washes: Foaming can be reduced by selecting appropriate filling speeds and nozzle configurations, helping limit bubbles and product loss.
- Serums: For small-volume, high-value products, filling accuracy and packaging consistency are particularly important.
Npack designs and manufactures fully automatic liquid filling equipment and packaging systems. Equipment can be configured according to the product characteristics, package specifications, and required production capacity, with options for bottles, jars, tubes, pump bottles, and other packaging formats. Filling, capping, labeling, and conveying equipment can also be integrated into a complete packaging line.
Piston filling is well suited to medium- and high-viscosity products such as lotions, shampoos, hand soaps, and gels. The piston meters a defined volume of product for accurate filling.
For higher-viscosity liquids and pastes such as body lotions, hair waxes, and creams, a rotary pump provides stable product transfer and controlled filling.
Overflow filling is designed for low-viscosity, foaming liquids where a consistent fill level is important. Excess product is returned during filling, helping maintain a uniform liquid level from bottle to bottle.
For higher-volume production of medium- to high-viscosity liquids and pastes, servo-driven tracking allows the filling nozzles to move in sync with the containers. Filling can therefore continue while the bottles remain in motion, supporting continuous, high-speed operation.
Npack also offers integrated filling and capping machines for small-volume viscous liquid products of 100 mL or less. The system can be configured around the product’s viscosity, packaging format, production speed, and hygiene requirements, with filling, capping, labeling, and conveying functions integrated as required.
- Product: mouthwash
- Filling nozzles: 12
- Filling method: piston filling
- Capping heads: 1
- Capping method: continuous servo tracking capping
- Product: essential oil
- Filling nozzles: 8
- Filling method: piston filling
A piston filling machine uses the reciprocating movement of a piston for volumetric dosing. As the piston retracts, product is drawn into the cylinder. When the piston moves forward, the preset volume is discharged into the container. The fill volume is controlled by the piston stroke.
Depending on the products, liquids with similar viscosities and compatible material requirements generally do not require replacement of the main filling components.
For products that are corrosive, have specific hygiene requirements, or require different material compatibility, suitable seals, filling nozzles, and product-contact materials should be selected accordingly.
Changeover typically takes 10–45 minutes, depending on product characteristics, such as viscosity differences and the complexity of the bottle format.