Cause and effect situations are prevalent on product lines in beverage manufacturing plants. Just as a jam upstream can cause proliferation of product downstream, palletizing equipment has been affected by industry trends toward higher line speeds and lighter packages, which has influenced new advancements.

 The innovative, entrepreneurial spirit that helped Honest Tea, Bethesda, Md., establish its roots in 1998 can still be found within the company 14 years later.  

On the production line, beverage packages face multiple obstacles, such as chipped or broken glass, deformed plastic, mis-seamed cans, over- or under-filling, incorrect labeling, leaking, contamination, and misapplied caps and closures, to name a few defects.