There is a growing trend among food producers in the last few years where their products are being packaged for a variety of applications, such as frozen food, grab-n-go, and pre-made meals. The demand for these types of packaging has been steadily increasing for some time now.
The reason behind this is that many supermarkets, restaurants, country stores, and others who are involved in the production and sale of food products are offering more and more prepackaged food products.
There are a few things that have changed in the supermarket in recent times. If you have gone to the supermarket lately, chances are you have seen a few changes to staples of your shopping experience. For instance, most serve-yourself salad bars are no longer “serve yourself”. Instead, they offer pre-packaged salads in plastic containers instead.
To prevent the virus from touching the food inside, more and more produce items are shrink-wrapped. Food vendors are now selling pre-made meals that are then frozen or packaged in film-covered trays.
It is becoming increasingly popular for people like you to buy food packaging machinery and package their own food items rather than outsourcing the job to a contract packaging company. By doing so, you can fully control the process, machinery, materials, and every other aspect of food packaging. Additionally, you can ensure the safety of the food items you sell to your customers.
What is the cost of a food packaging machine? Which types of food packaging machines are available? What is the best one to buy? Is it a good idea for your business?
It’s likely that you have a lot of questions, just as many other companies do. With decades of experience in the food packaging industry, we have helped large food manufacturers package their products. Therefore, we can help you choose the right equipment for your food packaging needs and answer any questions you may have.
We’re here to help you understand how much investment you’d need to make to get started packaging your own food. We will explain the price, functionality, and proper applications of food packaging machines in this article to assist you in making a decision.
What factors affect the cost of food packaging machines?
You may experience sticker shock when looking to purchase a food packaging machine. When considering the food packaging machine price, you need to take a few things into account. The following items will affect the cost of your chosen equipment.
Functionality
Costs are heavily influenced by the functionality of each machine. It depends on the machine’s capabilities, such as speed, the volume of packages produced each hour, and whether it is a manual or automatic machine.
Mechanical Components
There are fewer moving parts in manual models, as well as motors and other components controlled by computers. A control panel-controlled automatic model will cost more than a manual model, since the latter cannot be programmed and run automatically.
Capabilities
Cost of materials will vary depending on the model you select and the machine’s capabilities. Compared to a high-end automatic machine, entry-level machines will package less volume and use fewer materials daily. In spite of the higher upfront cost of a high-end automatic model, you will generally get discounts on materials orders when you buy higher volumes of product. The cost of owning a more expensive higher-end model will be less over time in this regard.
Labor
The cost of an entry-level manual machine may be less, but you will have to pay an operator to operate it every day. In the long run, buying a more expensive fully automatic model and running without the required man-hours may save you money, depending on the volume of products you package regularly.
