General Packaging Industry

Packaging machinery relies on a mix of bearings, linear guides, conveyor rollers, gears, slewing rings and cable management systems to move products through forming, filling and sealing. Many plants now favor self-lubricating plastic bearings and guides alongside traditional metal parts to cut maintenance and noise. Suppliers such as igus® provide lubrication-free motion plastics that are designed specifically for high-speed, automated packaging lines.

Frequent causes include bearing wear, seized slides, misaligned guides, damaged conveyor components and cable failures on moving axes. These issues often stem from lubrication breakdown, contamination, or components not rated for continuous duty. Using maintenance-free, self-lubricating bearings and continuous-flex cables in guided carriers can reduce unplanned stoppages and extend service intervals on packaging equipment.

Unplanned downtime often comes from worn bearings, seized slides, damaged conveyor parts and failed cables on form fill seal machines, cartoners and case packers. Switching to self lubricating, maintenance free bearings and continuous flex cables cuts lubrication work and cable failures. iglide® and drylin® components run dry, and chainflex® cables in e-chain® are tested for millions of cycles to help extend mean time between failures.

Format changeovers depend on how easily guides, rails, star wheels, sensors and tooling can be adjusted between product sizes. Designs that use simple, repeatable linear and rotary adjustments with clear reference points tend to change over faster and with fewer mistakes. Compact lead-screw stages, linear modules and self-aligning bearings are commonly used to support quick, tool-free adjustments in modern packaging lines.

Carton dust, film scrap and product residues can accumulate on motion points and combine with grease to form abrasive paste, accelerating wear and seizure. Sliding elements that run dry and have low surface energy handle this better because they shed debris instead of trapping it. This is a key reason dry-running plastic bearings, liners and wear strips are increasingly used around cutting, forming and cartoning stations.

Washdown zones require components that are corrosion-resistant, easy to clean and compatible with detergents and sanitizers. Designers often pair stainless steel structures with grease-free sliding elements to avoid lubricant washout and rust. For food and beverage packaging, there is growing use of FDA-compliant and EU 10/2011-compliant polymers in bearings and guides to support hygienic design and regulatory requirements.

Conveyors and accumulation tables have a major impact on throughput, product handling and noise levels. High friction surfaces can cause label scuffing, pack damage and unnecessary back-pressure, while smooth, low-torque rollers and guides keep products flowing. Many lines now use iglide® guide rollers, low-friction liners and optimized side rails to reduce energy use and improve handling of cartons, bottles, pouches and trays.

Cables and hoses on moving axes are critical to machine reliability and safety. Poor routing can lead to kinks, broken conductors, leaks and unexpected downtime, especially on gantries, robots and sealing heads. Best practice is to use energy chains with controlled bend radii and continuous-flex cables rated for dynamic motion, a combination widely adopted in modern automated packaging systems.

Many plants work to standardize bearing sizes, linear profiles, rollers and cable carrier families across different machines to simplify inventory and repairs. Using common semi-finished bar and plate stock for machined wear parts and change parts helps support this strategy. Motion-plastic suppliers support standardization by offering broad size ranges and compatible materials across bearings, guides, slewing rings and cable carriers.

Core criteria include load, speed, duty cycle, environment (dust, washdown, temperature) and hygiene or regulatory requirements. Once these are defined, engineers can look for dry-running, wear-resistant bearings, robust linear systems and continuous-flex cables matched to those conditions. Many designers use vendor tools like CAD libraries, material selectors and service-life calculators, plus application support, to narrow down options for packaging machinery projects.