Packaging Equipment
Keeping the Line Running. Engineered for Uptime.
In packaging equipment manufacturing and operation, downtime is the enemy. When a line stops, the cost accumulates immediately. Every hour a machine sits idle waiting on a replacement component or a tooling modification represents lost production, missed shipments, and pressure that runs straight up the supply chain.
Additive manufacturing is one of the most practical tools available for keeping packaging equipment running, and for improving it when it runs.
Where Additive Manufacturing Fits in Packaging Equipment
Packaging equipment presents a unique set of challenges that additive manufacturing is particularly well suited to address.
Custom components for specific product runs. Packaging lines are often reconfigured for different products, formats, and container geometries. Custom guides, rails, star wheels, grippers, and handling components designed for a specific product run can be produced additively in a fraction of the time and cost of machined alternatives. When the product run changes, the tooling changes with it.
Replacement parts without tooling. Packaging equipment runs for years, often decades. Original parts go out of production. Suppliers discontinue components. Tooling gets lost or worn beyond use. Additive manufacturing can produce functional replacements directly from engineering data or reverse engineered geometry, without rebuilding expensive tooling.
Rapid design iteration for new equipment. Developing new packaging equipment involves extensive iteration on handling components, guides, and custom tooling. Additive manufacturing compresses that iteration cycle significantly, allowing engineering teams to test, evaluate, and refine designs faster than traditional manufacturing allows.
Lightweight handling components. Packaging equipment runs at high speed. Lighter handling components reduce inertia, lower drive system loads, and reduce wear on the mechanical systems that move them. Additive manufactured components can be internally optimized to remove mass where it is not structurally necessary without compromising the geometry that does the work.
Short run and specialty applications. Not every packaging application runs at mass scale. Specialty products, contract packaging operations, and low volume runs often require custom tooling that cannot be justified through traditional manufacturing investment. Additive manufacturing makes those applications economically practical.
Materials for Packaging Equipment Applications
Packaging equipment components operate in demanding environments that include cleaning chemicals, high cycle mechanical loading, elevated temperatures, and in regulated applications, strict material compliance requirements. Material selection has to account for all of it.
Axiom Works produces packaging equipment components in high performance polymers that are well suited to the specific demands of packaging machinery:
PEEK — exceptional wear resistance, chemical resistance to the cleaning agents and sanitizers common in food and pharmaceutical packaging environments, and dimensional stability under high cycle mechanical loading. Well suited for guides, wear surfaces, and handling components in demanding packaging line environments where temperature and chemical exposure are factors.
PPS (Polyphenylene Sulfide) — outstanding resistance to the aggressive cleaning agents, sanitizing solutions, and process chemicals that packaging equipment encounters in food and pharmaceutical production environments. Excellent dimensional stability and long service life in high cycle applications.
Engineering Grade Nylon — strong wear characteristics, good chemical resistance, and low friction properties that make it well suited for bushings, guides, and handling components in packaging machinery. Printable in complex geometries that machined nylon cannot economically achieve.
Semicrystalline PET — dimensional stability and stain resistance that make it a reliable choice for tight tolerance packaging machinery components where consistent geometry across a production run is critical.
Carbon fiber composites — for high speed handling components where stiffness, low mass, and dimensional stability under load are critical to line performance and throughput.
Material selection is always matched to the specific chemical exposure profile, mechanical loading, temperature range, and regulatory requirements of each application. We do not default to the easiest material to print. We select the material that will perform correctly across the service life of the component.
Applications in Packaging Equipment
Axiom Works supports packaging equipment manufacturers, integrators, and end users across a broad range of applications:
Star wheels and timing screws — custom geometry designed for specific container profiles, produced faster than machined alternatives and easier to iterate when formats change
Guides and rails — conformal handling geometry that follows container profiles precisely, reducing jams, improving throughput, and minimizing product damage
Grippers and end effectors — custom handling tooling for robotic and automated packaging systems, designed around specific product geometries and handling requirements
Replacement and legacy components — production of discontinued or long lead time parts that keep existing equipment running without sourcing delays
Wear components and liners — high performance polymer wear surfaces that extend service intervals and reduce maintenance burden on high cycle packaging lines
Custom housings and enclosures — sensor housings, control enclosures, and custom structural components for packaging machinery
Prototype tooling — rapid production of handling components for new packaging equipment under development
Downtime Is Expensive. Lead Time Matters.
When a packaging line is down and the part that is needed is on a six week machining lead time, the cost of that lead time is not abstract. It shows up in production shortfalls, overtime, and customer relationships.
Additive manufacturing from Axiom Works compresses that lead time to days in most cases. The engineering behind the replacement part is done correctly. The material is selected for the operating environment. The part is dimensionally inspected before it ships.
When the line needs to run, we move as fast as the problem requires.
The Engineering Behind the Tooling
Packaging equipment is mechanically complex. Handling components have to function at line speed, cycle reliably for millions of cycles, and interface correctly with every other element of the system they are part of. Getting that right requires more than printing a file.
Axiom Works brings a full mechanical and manufacturing engineering background to every packaging equipment engagement. We think about wear, fatigue, chemical exposure, and dimensional stability from the start of the design conversation, not after a part fails in service.
If you are developing new equipment, modifying an existing line, or trying to source a part that nobody makes anymore, we are structured to help.
CONSUMER PRODUCTS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING · FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPING · SHORT RUN PRODUCTION · RAPID PROTOTYPING · BRIDGE PRODUCTION · INDUSTRIAL 3D PRINTING · PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT · ADVANCED MANUFACTURING