Most lines have what a labeling head needs: conveyor, product, power; five steps make it a labeling line.
If your products travel a conveyor in a stable orientation with a reasonable gap, a labeling head can be added, usually without touching the rest of the line. The recipe: measure the line (conveyor surface height, direction, product pitch), pick the application point, choose the head: flat-surface (T951, 40–120 pcs/min, ±1mm, from ~$3,500), side (T952) or gantry (T953), wire trigger and safety I/O, then commission against real product with a FAT run. Heads are height- and angle-adjustable and built to “plug into your existing line”. The five steps and the measurement checklist below make the quote exact.
Four numbers define almost everything: conveyor surface height from the floor, belt speed (or the filler rate it must match), direction of travel, and product pitch: the center-to-center spacing between products, and whether it is constant or varies. Add the product’s own dimensions and you have 90% of the engineering input. The checklist below turns this into a ten-minute form.
Where the label meets the product decides accuracy more than any machine feature. Look for a stretch of conveyor where the product is stable, upright and evenly spaced, typically after the filler-capper, or after a checkweigher where pitch is already controlled. Note available space around that point: head reach, column footprint, and operator access for roll changes.
Three geometries cover nearly all retrofits: a wipe-on or blow/tamp head for flat surfaces (top of cartons, pouches, lids), a side-applied head for carton flanks and bottles, and a gantry frame when the product passes through a portal (top and bottom, or oversized products). The head does the dispensing; your conveyor does the transporting. That is the whole economy of a retrofit.
Heads run on single-phase 220V (T951 draws 500W). Signals are simple: a product-present sensor triggers the dispense; a speed reference or the line’s own sensor timing keeps label placement synced; an E-stop loop ties into the head’s safety circuit. If you later need date or barcode printing, a print engine integrates at the same point, see the print & apply class.
The head is test-run at the factory with your actual product and labels (filmed, because the video travels better than an inspector). On delivery, commissioning is on-site or by scheduled video call: mount, square to the belt, teach the sensor, run product, verify placement. The FAT process page shows the ten-point checklist used before anything ships.
Fill this in and any head supplier (us included) can quote without a site visit:
| # | Parameter | Your value | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conveyor surface height (floor → belt top) | ____ mm | Head column range and reach |
| 2 | Belt speed / filler rate to match | ____ m/min or pcs/min | Head throughput class |
| 3 | Direction of travel & orientation | Left→right / right→left; face up / side | Head mounting and method |
| 4 | Product L × W × H (or diameter) | ____ mm | Label size vs product, applicator stroke |
| 5 | Minimum gap between products (pitch) | ____ mm | Dispense timing, sensor spacing |
| 6 | Label length × width, liner width, roll core | ____ mm / 76mm core | Head label range fit |
| 7 | Available space at application point | ____ mm clearance | Mounting, roll change access |
| 8 | Power available | ____ V / Hz | Export voltage version [TBC] |
| 9 | Compressed air available (if pneumatic) | ____ bar | Tamp/blow method selection |
Send it with a phone video of the line running: that combination usually produces a firm quote and a commissioning plan within a day.
Wipe-on for carton tops, pouches, lids, blisters: ±1mm at 40–120 pcs/min, labels L 6–300 × W 15–130mm, 500W, ≈70kg.
Side application to carton flanks and bottles: the workhorse for case coding; height and angle adjustable to the line datum.
Portal frame for top, bottom or dual-face application and oversized products: fits lines where a side column would obstruct traffic.
The classic: bottles exit the capper stable and evenly pitched, and the labeling head sits one meter downstream. Placement inherits the line’s pitch control for free. No new feed screw needed.
Cartons leave packed and closed; a flat-surface head labels the top face as cases pass. This is the T951’s home turf, and shipping marks or brand labels go on in the same pass.
Horizontal form-fill-seal lines present a flat side face in motion; a side head with a light tamp applies pouch labels without stopping the web.
Where the requirement is variable data rather than pre-printed labels, the same mounting point takes a print-and-apply engine printing date, lot or barcode at the moment of application. See the print & apply machine page for the integrated class.
Heads land in the $3,000–10,000 band depending on geometry and options, against $6,000–15,000 for a complete automatic machine and multiples of that for a new line from a Western OEM, where lead times of 16–52 weeks are normal. A head retrofit typically ships in weeks, not months: standard models mirror the 7–10 day dispatch rhythm of our semi-automatic range, while engineered variants are quoted with their own timeline [TBC per project]. Freight and duty follow the same import math as any machine from China. See the import playbook for Incoterms and HS 8422.30 classification.
Heads on customer conveyors (mounting, first-label alignment, rate) filed in the test-run video library.
Almost any conveyor with a stable product presentation. The head needs a mounting position beside or over the belt, single-phase power, and a sensible trigger point; the belt itself stays untouched. Odd cases (tiny products, unstable orientation, extreme speeds) get an engineering review before quoting, usually resolved with guides or a dividing screw.
The nine-line checklist above: conveyor height, belt speed, direction, product dimensions, minimum gap, label spec including liner width, available space, power and (if pneumatic) air. A phone video of the line running completes it. With both, we return a firm quote and commissioning plan.
Sync is achieved by trigger timing tied to product presence, with an optional speed reference for lines whose rate varies. In practice the head follows the products, so gradual rate changes are absorbed automatically; step changes between SKUs are handled by switching the stored parameter set. The commissioning video shows the sync working on your line speed.
[TBC per project; typically the head is mounted and wired during a planned window, with fine-tuning done on the next run; many lines schedule it into a changeover.] The FAT run means the machine arrives already tuned to your product, which is what keeps on-site time short.
Yes. The same trigger point can drive a print-and-apply configuration that prints the date, lot or barcode and applies it in one motion. That is a different machine class (print engine + applicator) rather than an add-on to a plain head; see the print & apply page and declare the data requirement in your RFQ.
Retrofit vs new machine in context: all eight classes, price bands and the 10-question supplier checklist.
The components inside the head you are about to mount: useful before the FAT, essential after year one.
