The Early Days of PackWest
PackWest opened for business in 1971 in Pasadena, California. Our first products were inline piston fillers and as our business and customer base expanded we developed and introduced basic inline capping torquers followed by fully automated inline and rotary capping systems.
Early PackWest customers included Kraft, Girards Fine Foods, Vita-Pakt, Wilsey Foods (now Ventura Foods), Merle Norman, Dial and KIK Custom Products. Our equipment was and continues to be used in a variety of packaged goods industries including foods, personal care, household cleaning, laundry and automotive fluids.
Ease of operation, dependable performance and innovative solutions have been the foundation of PackWest’s success from the beginning.
In 1985 we introduced new inline spindle capping systems that made it easy for operators to make torqueing disk adjustments from the front side of the machine. This innovation eliminated the need for operators to spend time walking around to the back of the capper to make needed adjustments.
Prior to 1991, applying large diameter caps to containers was a challenge for inline spindle capping systems. The biggest obstacle was the high incidence of cross-threaded caps.
The Evolution of PackWest
In 1991, PackWest introduced a new spindle drive system that would reverse rotate large diameter caps at station #1 in order to properly stage them prior to pre-threading at station #2. PackWest has been a leader in inline spindle capping systems for large diameter screw-on caps ever since.
Prior to 1992, operators needed to stop their inline spindle cappers to adjust the torque on the standard mechanical clutches. In 1992 we introduced pneumatic torque clutches which could be adjusted on the fly, eliminating the downtime caused by mechanical clutches.
PackWest was acquired by Pacific Packaging Machinery in 2010 and the two companies operated out of two different Los Angeles facilities.
Following the acquisition by Pacific, our inline piston filling systems joined the Pacific family of inline and rotary filling systems which enabled us to focus exclusively on inline capping systems.
Along with Pacific Packaging Machinery, PackWest joined ProMach in 2016.
In 2018 PackWest and Pacific Packaging Machinery moved from their separate Los Angeles area facilities into a new, 81,000 sq. ft. facility in Corona, CA. Our new home includes an expanded machine shop, a dedicated area for Factory Acceptance Tests as well as aftermarket parts and customer support services for PackWest inline capping systems and Pacific inline and rotary filling systems.
Today PackWest is proud to offer best-in-class inline capping systems for screw-on and snap-on capping applications. Our screw-on capping systems include six and eight spindle cappers, cap elevators, and rotary and waterfall cap sorters.
Our snap-on capping systems include press-on or push-in cap applicators, cap elevators and rotary and waterfall cap sorters.