Ska Fabricating offers automated packaging solutions for multiple container types – watch the video above and let our sales team know what you have in mind!
Our complete lines of automated packaging solutions include automated palletizing equipment, manual palletizers, depalletizers, conveyance solutions and beyond.
We know that each packaging solution is an answer to a unique customer request – we look forward to being able to discuss the correct solution to get a product to market.
For companies looking to scale and grow, Ska Fab has the proven expertise to help make those plans a reality.
Request more information or email our sales team at sales@skafabricating.com
Conveyance options to move your containers
Much credit is given in designing a line to the larger pieces of the operation – your depalletizers or palletizers or direct-to-container digital printers. These Cap-Ex items certainly are splashier and more of what draws the eye’s attention when viewing a layout, but just like in our bodies, a heart is no more than a fancy pump without the arteries and veins to feed and fuel it. On a packaging line, the conveyance and accumulation that surround these large pieces of equipment are integral in keeping a line optimized for speed, agility and maximum uptime.
All conveyors are built to customer specific elevation/discharge heights, and are typically paired with depalletizing and palletizing equipment, so when selecting the right canning line understanding speed requirements is paramount. The top two questions we always ask are, “What is the speed you need to achieve?” and “Will you be doing a lot of start/stop or do you hope to continuously feed?” The answer to these questions will determine which depalletizer you need and what conveyance options are necessary to meet those speeds.
Here at Ska Fabricating, we take great pride in the work that our engineering team does to design lines that take our customers’ products to market and change the way they operate to ensure they are able to scale at the rate they imagine for their business. Here are some examples from high, medium and low throughput systems that illustrate the importance of speed in conjunction with proper conveyance and how this alignment can impact a line.
A high-speed palletizing answer to palletizing considerations posed by the direct-to-container digital printing and can manufacturing industries
True innovation is rooted in solutions derived from industry needs, and this kind of challenge is something that Ska Fab relishes and has delivered through the presentation of a unique bulk palletizing solution: The BAM.
“The equipment really does speak for itself”
“…Ska stood above the rest. Not only in their service and their quality, but also in terms of their responsiveness…”
-Shawn Bonnick, President of Kinsbrae Packaging.
We got to visit with Kinsbrae Packaging and hear more about how their depalletizer/repalletizer system has changed the game for their production. So inspiring to be a part of such an incredible company’s continued growth — take a look below!
Ska Fabricating jumps into 2023 by welcoming their new CEO
After a nationwide search, Ska Fabricating’s Board of Directors has selected Steve Sherman to lead the company as its Chief Executive Officer. Most recently, Mr. Sherman served as Global VP of Operations for Spectralink Corporation.
Mr. Sherman has over twenty years of CEO and COO experience serving private, equity, venture capital, and public companies. Before accepting his new role at Ska Fabricating, Mr. Sherman acted as Global VP of Operations at Spectralink Corporation, Head of Global Operations at Mini-Circuits, and Vice President of Alcatel-Lucent, among others.
We took a moment to catch up with Steve and hear a bit more about the path that led him to Ska Fabricating and what excites him about this next chapter of the company.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what led you to choose Ska Fab.
I started my career as an automation engineer designing and building robotic systems for high- speed manufacturing lines. I then moved into leading manufacturing, supply chain, and business operations around the world for some great technology companies including IBM, AT&T, and Nokia. I’ve spent the last 10+ years focused on my true passion – building and growing mid-size companies – launching new products, expanding into new markets, and building new partnerships. Ska Fab is a bit “coming home” for me in terms of getting back to my roots in taking on automation engineering challenges to solve customer problems.
When I look for a leadership role, I focus on smaller, fast moving, customer-focused companies with a strategy and track record of growth and service. And most importantly for me – great people who want to build something great and long-lasting. We spend so much time at work, that I want to work with people where I build lifelong friendships. Ska Fab is all of that.
Great companies like Ska Fab develop innovative products that solve real world problems for our customers. And we are relentless about customer focus and service. We have multiple manufacturing sites that allow us to directly control our quality and delivery. And we have a diverse team of people, full of energy and purpose, who are incredibly dedicated to further growing this business. It was really an easy decision to jump into this leadership role and be a part of this team.
While my wife and family are originally from the East Coast, we have been in Colorado for the past 8+ years. We love hiking and biking – so having our headquarters in beautiful Durango was simply an added bonus.
What is exciting to you as you consider Ska’s future?
Our history and continued trajectory of growth. Building from a leadership role in craft brewing, we are now helping transform the can decorating industry. And our Grand Rapids team has expanded our portfolio to cover all major container types including plastic, steel, fiberboard, and glass. We get new challenges from new customers every day which is incredibly exciting.
Our culture has incredible agility and speed, with a laser focus on customer service. Every person I met at Ska Fab wants to be here and is committed to expanding our reach and impact.
We have an important purpose and play a critical role in the global supply chain for packaged goods. We are a key part in packaging all the items in your kitchen, in your garage, in your medicine cabinet. We enable our customers to get that job done profitably, safely, with the highest quality. And we see the outcome of our work every day, on every store shelf, and in every home.
What about Ska’s product offerings sets Ska apart from the rest of the field?
Our products are purpose-built by talented people directly from the industry. These are not generic pieces of steel and motors and electronics that anyone can put together. They are thoughtful designs and solutions built to allow our customers to succeed; they enable higher quality packaging operations with lower costs and increased output and revenue.
Our products are flexible and scalable. We appreciate that some operators are just starting out. They need lower throughput from flexible and reliable equipment to help them launch innovative products. Other Ska Fab customers are much larger and need much higher throughput and engineering support for an end-to-end solution. Regardless of business size, package type, or product segment – if you are building or improving your packaging line – we are committed to being your partner of choice.
Lastly – we are a humble company. We do not limit our customers’ design of their process, or choices of key packaging equipment by requiring every piece to come from Ska Fab. We know that some of our customers need equipment from other companies to optimize their operations. We embrace that. And we constantly look for the best of the best partners to build out a complete solution. We are always open to integrating a blend of Ska Fab equipment and other high quality third party equipment, with Ska Fab’s engineering and service ability so our customers get the best end to end integrated solution that serves their needs.
Read more about Steve Sherman and the announcement of his role as CEO of Ska Fabricating on The Metal Packager, CanTech International, and Packaging World.
We were invited to swing by our friends at Cutwater to check out their Can-I-Bus with S-Grip lowerator in action as they canned some RTD cocktails. Very neat to see the wide range of applications for which the Can-I-Bus is used throughout the beverage industry, and excited to serve teams like Cutwater who are doing such interesting things!
We will be exhibiting at Informa Markets - Engineering WestPack in one short month, and are proud to showcase the GR-X FHA 3000 depalletizer and Industrial S-Grip lowerator. The FHA 3000 is capable of unloading pallets weighing up to 1,000 pounds and can handle multiple container types. Use the promo code MYGUEST5015 for a free expo pass and 20% off a 2-day conference pass, and come see us in booth 5015!
Kombucha: Honoring a Historical Process
There is nothing fast about making kombucha. A craft more than two thousand years old, its fermentation process has been adapted myriad times over the generations. Those that are bringing this ready-to-drink (RTD) tea to the public over the past decades are still honing and perfecting their crafts through their own unique processes of varying lengths of time.
The notion of process is one that is present in many of our days – the steps it takes to achieve a desired outcome or result. Making tea, for example – whether pouring a bag into a cup, pushing a pod into a percolator, or heating up a gooseneck for your fresh leaves, there are steps one must follow to end up with a cozy cup. Following a process implies a method or recipe – A to B to C – where some steps take time and some steps are in close sequence like dominoes. However, when one comes to a step that is more laborious or time-intensive, one cannot rush the outcome…it simply has to proceed. There is a surrender in this – a submission to the will of the medium and a kind of trust that the process will yield the product.
Typically seen in either glass or aluminum packaging, kombucha is being concocted and marketed in infinite ways: hemp or CBD-infused, effervescent or fizzy, alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Along with the flavor and taste profile, it’s also clear that there’s no lack of containers these days for vendors to choose from when it comes to packaging their craft beverage, and kombucha is no different. Every house-of-kombucha is as unique as their recipe for their craft beverage – and the market continues to expand every year.
So why are we here at Ska Fab talking about kombucha on our blog today? Beyond the marketing plans for the perfect look, and the poured-over recipe for the in-demand taste customers expect, the success of the product itself has to be considered in scale – tempered by the market itself for the product. How the product can actually be brought to market en-masse is a huge piece of this puzzle, and for this discussion a company needs a true expert.
Ska Fabricating has been automating processes for craft beverage producers for over ten years, and in that time, we’ve worked with a wide range of desired packaging speeds as well as container types. With many kombucha companies desiring to package products in both glass and aluminum cans, it’s important to have someone in your corner who can speak to both of those worlds.
We’ve got our roots in the craft brewing industry – we know the time it takes to create a perfectly fermented product and the care that needs to be taken with such a product when it comes to packaging. Automation is a step that can change the game when it comes to how a business can grow – freeing up your valuable team’s minds and hands from the packaging floor. With our acquisition of GR-X Manufacturing, we have expanded our capability to handle glass as well as aluminum, and with options like the original Can-I-Bus depalletizer or the HHA 5000 automatic glass depalletizer, our customers have so many choices in terms of how to design their packaging lines. It helps that our team of engineers have truly seen it all, and are a part of the conversation and creative process from the very beginning.
Brewers of booch are aware of process, and we here at Ska Fab honor that as part of our own system of creating automated solutions that are relevant, forward-thinking, and honed not just for today, but for the future of the industry.
Let us know what you are working on – we’d love to be a part of your story.
sales@skafabricating.com