Although the term “flexibility” often is used to describe expectations for beverage industry equipment, in terms of labeling equipment, there still is a place for more rigid machines dedicated to specific operations, notes Raul Matos, vice president of sales and marketing at Miami-based Karlville Development LLC. “Companies in the beverage industry, like the big multi-national beverage companies, want a specific machine that runs a specific product 24 hours a day,” he explains.
These types of beverage customers tend to invest in multiple high-speed lines that can be fully dedicated to a limited number of SKUs, notes Neal Painter, Midwest regional sales manager at PDC International, Norwalk, Conn.