For more than 20 years, Fowler Products (fowlerproducts.com), powered by Pro Mach, has been a supplier/partner to Jim Beam Brands and has manufactured machinery for Beam, the largest U.S. based spirits company and fourth largest premium spirits company in the world. Fowler has supplied Beam with Fowler/Zalkin capping machines and Fowler bulk cap handling systems as well as Perrier rotary rinsers and Perrier fillers. At Pack Expo 2013 in Las Vegas September 23-25, Fowler had on display the 30th capping machine it had manufactured for Beam - a 10 head capper applying ROPP aluminum closures for the Pinnacle Vodka brand.
“Superior technology may open the door for a supplier for a particular application, but it is trust and performance that will keep them in the building,” says Jim Beam Brands senior corporate engineer Robert Land. “I’ve been in the business for 30 years and I’ve bought 30 cappers from Fowler. You could not ask for a better supplier. I’m proud that Jim Beam’s 30th Fowler/Zalkin capping machine was on display in the Fowler booth at Pack Expo 2013.” (Watch a brief Pack Expo video of Robert Land and the new machine.)
Beam engineers initially specified Fowler/Zalkin capping machines for their screw-on closures because those machines delivered better torque control technology and provided more consistent operation than competitive models. Years later, Fowler began supplying ROPP machines for aluminum closures when Beam adopted this premium closure for their bourbon products. Fowler solutions began at Beam with capping speeds of 100 to 200 bottles a minute. Some of today’s machines push past 400 bottles a minute. Fowler also worked with Beam on the installation of the first Perrier filler in North America. And, Fowler has been active in converting Beam’s older capping machines, a number of them more than 20 years old, to today’s control and capping standards.
Fowler president and general manager Don Cotney says, “If a machine manufacturer is focused simply on selling a packaging machine, then that company will always be chasing the next sale. If your attitude and company culture assumes ‘ownership’ of that machine every day it is on the packaging line, then you are helping your customer succeed and repeat business will come to you. Valued customers like Beam reward suppliers that take this machine ownership attitude. It is great working with them.”
