---
title: "Packaging Line Monitoring: Every Unit Counted | IoTFlows"
description: "Packaging line monitoring for bottling, bagging and case packing: a laser counter tracks every unit, the line speed and which machine stopped. No PLC."
source_url: "https://www.iotflows.com/solutions/packaging-line-monitoring"
---
Packaging line monitoring

# Packaging line monitoring that counts every unit the line ships

A laser counter after the last reject point counts every bottle, bag or case your line ships. Put one at each step to see which machine stopped, and why.

[How it counts](https://www.iotflows.com/solutions/packaging-line-monitoring#count-point)

Count point

## Count what the line ships

A [BeamTracker](https://www.iotflows.com/products/beamtracker) bolts on with the supplied mount in 10 to 20 minutes, beside the conveyor after the last reject or divert station, and counts every unit that crosses its laser up to 8 m away. **The count is what the line produced, not what it attempted.**

Bottles, cans, bags or cases. It is IP67 for wash-down, and on clear bottles it aims at the closure or counts cases instead.

[Set up a packaging line](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/production/packaging-lines)

Line speed

## Every line, live, in its own unit

Every BeamTracker puts its line on the Assets page: **running or stopped, each hour’s count against its goal, the total made and the rate** in bottles, bags or cases a minute.

An hour that falls short turns amber while the shift can still be saved, and a stopped line shows how long it has been down.

[Track production against shift goals](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/production/shift-production)

Which machine

## The line stopped. See where.

Put a [BeamTracker](https://www.iotflows.com/products/beamtracker) at each step and every machine reports its own count, running and stopped time. **The step whose count stopped first is the one that stopped the line**, and the Machine Down alert names it.

Group the steps into a cascade and each one shows first pass yield and the units it lost.

[Group machines into a cascade](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/monitoring/asset-groups)

Stops and changeovers

## Short stops and changeovers, on the record

Every stop lands on the downtime record with a reason: a bottle jam, a label roll, a changeover. Changeovers that always look the same classify themselves, and the Pareto ranks what each one costs.

Re-pick the product at a size change and the count files under the right product from the first unit.

[See downtime tracking](https://www.iotflows.com/solutions/downtime-tracking)

Maintenance by count

## Maintenance on the bottle count

A [Maintain](https://www.iotflows.com/platform/maintain) meter counts the line’s bottles toward a trigger point and opens the work order when it gets there, so **a slide knife is inspected every 100,000 bottles**, not on a guess.

Your team gets an email at 85% to have the parts ready.

[How meters work](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/maintain/meters)

On the floor

## The line’s number on the wall

Put Shift Production on a TV by the line and in the break room, [Operator View](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/monitoring/operator-view) on a tablet at the machine, and the same numbers on every phone.

Everyone sees the count against the goal as it happens, not in tomorrow’s report.

[Put a dashboard on a TV](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/monitoring/wallboards)

Customer story

## Altium Packaging runs ten bottling lines on live yield

Altium Packaging’s plant in Memphis, Tennessee, counts every bottle on its ten bottling lines with BeamTracker, at 20 to 140 bottles a minute, and reads the yield of every step as the bottles move.

10

bottling lines counted at every step

100,000

bottles between slide knife inspections, opened by the count

Live

first pass yield on TVs, desktops and phones

### Challenge

Reports took days or weeks. By the time the team met to talk about a loss, nobody could be sure exactly what had happened on the line.

### Solution

BeamTracker counts every bottle at every step of every line, read as a cascade with first pass yield and the bottles lost. Maintain meters on the bottle count open the slide knife inspection every 100,000 bottles, and the numbers run on TVs on the floor and in the break room.

### Products

[BeamTracker](https://www.iotflows.com/products/beamtracker) and [Maintain](https://www.iotflows.com/platform/maintain).

[Read the Altium Packaging story](https://www.iotflows.com/customers/altium-packaging)

> “Now we can talk through issues, help our operators and adjust operations in real time. We used to wait days or weeks for reports, then hold meetings and hope the team knew exactly what had happened. IoTFlows has been a game changer for us.”

Steve Petti, Plant Manager, Altium Packaging

Criollos Foods raised bagging-line productivity 35% with BeamTracker. [Read the Criollos Foods story](https://www.iotflows.com/customers/criollos-foods).

## Questions people ask

### What does IoTFlows packaging line monitoring include?

A BeamTracker after the last reject point of each line, counting units with ±2% count accuracy, and one at any step you want to see on its own. From them: every line on the Assets page, running or stopped, each hour’s count against its goal, the total made and the rate in the line’s own unit; running and stopped time for each line and each step; downtime with reasons and automatic rules, ranked on a Pareto chart; cascades with first pass yield and the units lost at every step; Maintain meters that open a work order on a unit count; and Shift Production on a TV, Operator View on a tablet and the dashboard on a phone.

### How does IoTFlows count bottles, cans, bags or cases?

A BeamTracker across the conveyor counts every unit that breaks its laser, single file, up to 8 m (26 ft) away. Set QTY/OP to 1 when the beam sees each unit, or to the pack count when it sees a case, and name the unit so the gauges read bottles, bags or cases a minute.

### Does it work on clear bottles?

Yes. Aim the beam at an opaque feature such as the closure, the label band or the filled body of the container, since clear glass and film may not break the beam. You can also move the count point downstream and count cases.

### Can it show which machine stopped the line?

Yes. Put a BeamTracker at each step, after the filler, the capper or the labeler. Each one reports its own count and its running and stopped time, so the step whose count stopped first is the one that stopped the line, and a Machine Down alert names it. Group the steps into a cascade and every step reports first pass yield and the units lost against the first.

### Can I monitor older fillers and cappers without a PLC?

Yes. BeamTracker counts the units leaving each machine from beside the conveyor, with nothing wired into the machine’s controls, and connects over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi or the IoTFlows 4G/LTE router.

### Will installing it slow the line?

No. BeamTracker bolts on with the supplied mount in 10 to 20 minutes, beside the conveyor. Nothing is wired into a machine, so there is no tie-in to schedule.

### How are rejects counted?

Put the count point after the last reject or divert station, so the count is what the line produced rather than what it attempted. Rejects found later are logged as scrap with a reason, and the good count is the one that reaches the report.

### What should my line’s uptime goal be?

Start from the line’s own baseline, not from its rating plate. Run it for a few weeks, then set the goal a little above what it holds. Uptime is the share of the shift the line spent running.

### How much does packaging line monitoring cost?

BeamTracker is $299 per device, bought once. The Pro plan is $119 per device per month billed monthly, less on annual and three-year contracts and from 10 devices, and 50 or more devices are quoted. Maintain starts at $500 per month. A pilot puts IoTFlows on 10 to 25 machines for four weeks with no commitment to buy.

## Documentation

Want the detail? These guides walk through each feature step by step.

- [Configure tracking for bottling and packaging linesThe count point, the beam values and the line speed as a rate.](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/production/packaging-lines)
- [Install and align BeamTrackerWhere to mount beside the conveyor, and how to aim the beam.](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/hardware/install-beamtracker)
- [Group machines into cascadesOne line on the Assets page, with first pass yield per step.](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/monitoring/asset-groups)
- [Count runtime or parts with metersMaintenance on a unit count, with a work order at 100%.](https://www.iotflows.com/docs/maintain/meters)

## Count your first line this week

Start with 10 to 25 machines for four weeks, with no commitment to buy. A BeamTracker goes on the lines you already run.