Conveyors for Packaging Lines
July 16, 2026
American-made, Stainless Steel Conveyors for a Variety of Industries
American-made, Stainless Steel Conveyors for a Variety of Industries
A form, fill, and seal machine is only one part of the packaging process.
Hanover Conveying Systems designs and manufactures the conveyors, hoppers, chutes, turntables, and custom material handling equipment that move product into, through, and away from form, fill, and seal packaging equipment.
Whether you are an equipment integrator building a complete packaging line or a manufacturer improving an existing process, we can design the material handling system around your FFS machine, product, production requirements, available space, and sanitation needs.
Need conveyors or material handling equipment for an FFS line?
Form, fill, and seal systems depend on consistent product movement before and after the packaging machine.
Poor product flow, difficult transfers, insufficient accumulation, inefficient layouts, or equipment that does not match the sanitation requirements of the application can create problems even when the packaging machine itself performs exactly as intended.
Hanover develops custom material handling equipment to connect those pieces of the process.
Depending on the application, we can provide:
Our equipment can be designed for new form, fill, and seal installations, packaging line expansions, equipment integrations, and improvements to existing systems.
Vertical form fill seal machines, commonly called VFFS machines, often require product to be delivered to an elevated filling point before finished packages are discharged downstream.
Hanover can design conveyors and material handling equipment around these requirements.
A VFFS conveyor system may include:
The right configuration depends on the product, package, production rate, available space, and the equipment surrounding the VFFS machine.
Horizontal form fill seal systems often require controlled movement and orientation as products enter or leave the packaging machine.
Hanover designs custom conveyor systems to help maintain consistent product flow through these transitions.
Applications may require:
Rather than treating the conveyor as a separate piece of equipment, we design around the interface between the conveyor, product, and packaging machine.
Thermoform fill seal equipment can require coordinated material handling before loading, throughout the packaging area, and after finished packages leave the machine.
Hanover provides conveyors and custom fabricated equipment that integrate with thermoforming packaging lines.
Depending on the process, this may include:
Our team works from equipment layouts, machine specifications, drawings, or directly with the integrator or manufacturer to develop the appropriate solution.
Consistent product delivery often requires more than a conveyor.
Hanover designs and fabricates custom stainless steel hoppers, chutes, troughs, and transitions that help manage product as it moves between processing equipment, conveyors, and FFS machinery.
These components can be built around:
Custom fabrication is especially valuable when an off-the-shelf component does not properly fit the equipment or process.
Not every packaging line can stop when downstream equipment pauses.
Turntables and accumulation conveyors can provide temporary product storage, help regulate flow, and provide a buffer between packaging operations.
Hanover can design accumulation solutions around:
Turntables also provide an efficient collection point for finished packages in applications where automated downstream handling is not required.
The conveyor immediately before or after the FFS machine may be only one part of the project.
Hanover can design material handling systems that connect packaging equipment with other operations throughout the line, including:
By considering the entire flow of product, the conveyor system can be designed around the requirements of the complete packaging process rather than individual pieces of equipment.
Food and beverage packaging environments often require material handling equipment that can withstand frequent cleaning while minimizing areas where product, moisture, or debris can collect.
Hanover Conveying Systems has extensive experience designing and fabricating stainless steel conveyors and equipment for food and beverage manufacturing.
For sanitary or washdown FFS applications, we can evaluate factors such as:
The goal is to build material handling equipment that works with both the packaging process and the realities of maintaining a clean production environment.
Packaging equipment integrators do not always need another company competing for control of the project.
Sometimes they simply need a reliable partner to design and manufacture the material handling portion of the system.
Hanover Conveying Systems works with integrators that need custom:
We can build to provided specifications or collaborate on the material handling design as part of the overall system.
The result is equipment designed to integrate with the FFS machine and the rest of the packaging line without requiring the integrator to develop every conveyor and fabricated component in-house.
Food and beverage manufacturers and packaging integrators are a major part of the work we do, particularly when applications require stainless steel construction, sanitary design, or washdown capability.
But our capabilities are not limited to food processing.
We can develop conveyors and material handling equipment for form, fill, and seal applications across a wide range of industries whenever a packaging process requires custom product movement, integration, or fabricated components.
Hanover can support both new installations and existing packaging lines.
If an FFS machine is being installed as part of a new line, we can work from the equipment specifications and layout to design the surrounding conveyors and material handling equipment.
Existing lines may need:
Custom equipment often solves these challenges without requiring replacement of the packaging machine itself.
Custom Conveyor Engineering
We design around the application, product, equipment interface, and plant layout rather than forcing every project into a standard conveyor configuration.
In-House Stainless Steel Fabrication
Our fabrication capabilities allow us to produce conveyors, hoppers, chutes, troughs, guarding, transitions, and custom components as part of the same project.
Sanitary Conveyor Experience
We regularly work with food and beverage manufacturers where washdown, sanitation, durability, and cleanability influence equipment design.
Integration Experience
We understand conveyors need to work with the equipment before and after them. Our designs account for machine interfaces, product flow, transfers, elevations, and the larger packaging process.
Integrator Friendly
We support packaging equipment integrators as the material handling portion of a larger system rather than needing to own the complete project.
Whether you are an integrator developing a new packaging system or a manufacturer trying to improve an existing FFS line, Hanover Conveying Systems can design the conveyors and material handling equipment needed to connect the process.
Tell us about the FFS machine, product, and material handling challenge.
We’re looking forward to working with you. Whether you have questions about products or services, our team is ready to help.
The type of conveyor used with a form fill seal machine depends on the product, package, machine configuration, and production process. Common options include infeed conveyors, incline conveyors, discharge conveyors, accumulation conveyors, transfer conveyors, and sanitary conveyors. Custom hoppers, chutes, and turntables may also be used to control product flow before or after the packaging machine.
Products can be fed into a vertical form fill seal machine using incline conveyors, bucket-style conveying systems, hoppers, chutes, metering equipment, or other material handling systems. The best method depends on the product’s size, weight, flow characteristics, production rate, and the height of the VFFS machine.
An accumulation conveyor temporarily stores products when downstream packaging equipment slows or stops. This helps prevent every machine on the line from stopping at the same time.
Yes. Custom conveyors and material handling equipment can be designed around an existing form fill seal machine. Important information typically includes the machine manufacturer and model, infeed and discharge heights, package dimensions, production rate, available floor space, sanitation requirements, and surrounding equipment.
An accumulation conveyor provides temporary storage or buffering between different stages of a packaging line. It can help maintain product flow when downstream equipment slows or stops temporarily and can reduce the need to stop upstream packaging equipment immediately.
A packaging line turntable provides temporary accumulation or a collection point for finished products. Turntables are often used after packaging equipment when operators need access to finished packages or when the downstream process does not require fully automated product handling.
Yes. Custom hoppers can be designed around the product, required capacity, discharge opening, available space, sanitation requirements, and the equipment the hopper needs to feed. Stainless steel hoppers are commonly used in food, beverage, and other manufacturing environments where durability and cleanability are important.
A chute uses gravity to guide products or materials between different pieces of equipment or elevations. Custom chutes can help control product direction, reduce uncontrolled drops, connect equipment with different inlet and discharge locations, and fit packaging lines where standard components do not work.
Packaging machines can be connected using a combination of transfer conveyors, accumulation conveyors, turns, elevation changes, product guides, and custom transitions. The conveyor system should be designed around the speed and interface requirements of each machine so product moves consistently through the complete packaging process.
Yes. Conveyors used in washdown environments can be designed with stainless steel frames, washdown-compatible components, sanitary belt materials, accessible construction, drainage considerations, and reduced collection points. The specific design depends on the cleaning procedures and requirements of the application.
Yes. Packaging equipment integrators may work with conveyor manufacturers to design and build the material handling portions of a complete packaging system. This can include machine infeed and discharge conveyors, sanitary conveyors, hoppers, chutes, turntables, guarding, transitions, and other custom equipment.