For growing small businesses in the packaging business, manual packing hampers production capacity and creates inconsistencies. With more orders, more manual labor for packing increases labor costs and slows down delivery times. While large scale industrial packaging solutions exist in the market, packaging equipment from leading manufacturers of packaging machines is often oversized and cost prohibitive for small operations.

Small business owners need a packaging machine that increases operational efficiency without breaking the bank. This guide identifies affordable packaging automation designed for small and mid-volume production from five manufacturers. We cover a wide range of options suitable for a variety of industries.

The table below displays possible manufacturers fit for small business potential.

Levapack

Founding Year: 2008

Headquarters: Guangzhou, China

Main Markets: Global (North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Middle East)

Key Products: Can Filling & Seaming Lines, Vacuum/Nitrogen Seamers, Piston Fillers

Focus Industry: Dry Powder (Coffee/Protein), Snacks (Nuts), Pet Food (Wet/Dry)

For small businesses entering the high-value markets of nutritional powders, dried snacks, or premium pet food, Levapack (LPE) offers a rare combination of industrial ruggedness and user-centric simplicity. Their machines are constructed with heavy-duty 1.5mm to 2mm thick stainless steel (304/316) and utilize CNC machining with precision up to 2μm. By integrating top-tier components from global leaders like Siemens, Schneider, SEW, and SMC, they deliver packaging systems a reliability standard that rivals European equipment, ensuring that your packaging lines keep running when you need it most.

A major hurdle for small manufacturers is the lack of specialized technical staff. Levapack addresses this with a focus on Intelligent Operation. Their machines feature advanced servo motor technology driven by highly intuitive, multi-language HMI touchscreens. This interface is designed to be as accessible as a smartphone, meaning you do not need a veteran engineer to run the line. An average operator can master the controls, access stored recipes, and utilize automatic error diagnostics with minimal training. The system is designed to be “smart,” offering auto-correction and fault warnings to prevent costly downtime before it happens.

Finally, Levapack understands that growing businesses rarely fit into a “standard box.” They distinguish themselves through Hyper-Customization, offering complete line solutions. Whether you have a uniquely shaped facility, a specific budget constraint, or a need to handle a niche composite paper tube, their engineering team provides one-on-one consulting to tailor the packaging process. From adjusting the machine layout to fit tight corners to customizing filling nozzles for viscous pet foods, Levapack builds the right packaging machine around your specific product and space, ensuring a perfect fit for your operation.

Viking Masek

Founding Year: 1964 (Masek), US Division established later

Headquarters: Oostburg, Wisconsin, USA / Leonov, Czech Republic

Main Markets: North America, Europe, Australia

Key Products: VFFS (Vertical Form Fill Seal), Stick Pack Machines, Premade Pouch Machines

Focus Industry: Coffee, Cheese, Snacks, Powders, Pharma

Masek has built a reputation for Quality Engineering and Customer Service with years of experience. While Masek runs and owns some high-speed packaging lines for big corporations, they still pay attention and service their entry-level market. Their M250 is a workhorse made for entry-level business and is built with an open stainless steel frame together with older but more reliable process technology so that smaller businesses can easily maintain the lines.

Masek sticks with the more straightforward solution rather than with some proprietary system and chooses to use off the shelf (normally Allen-Bradley or Siemens) for any drives and controls. This also gives business owners the ability to source spare parts at their own discretion rather than getting them solely from the original vendor. Masek machines also work with several styles of bags to give packagers more options, and they also include tool-less changeover for quick switches between jobs. While they are famous for vertical form fill seals, they can also integrate with case packers and case sealers for end-of-line needs.

Viking Masek entry-level still has the core sealing technology of the big systems, but at lower throughputs, up to 100 bags per minute. This is to try and take away the non-required features, improving overall efficiency. Their US based technical support team has the full intention of ensuring that they can provide maintenance services as quick as possible to ensure that issues can be solved without incurring high downtime.

Minipack-Torre

Founding Year: 1976

Headquarters: Dalmine, Italy

Main Markets: Global (Europe, North America)

Key Products: Chamber Shrink Machines, Vacuum Sealers, Flow Wrappers

Focus Industry: Bakery, Pizza, Industrial Parts, Printing

Minipack-Torre has a reputation of being the largest provider of shrink wrappers and chamber vacuum equipment. They were the first to create the hybrid chamber machine, which seals and shrinks in one step. This is ideal for companies in small retail and workshop settings, as the furniture is compact and provides excellent retail packaging solutions.

Ease of use for customers is a huge focus during the design process. Digital control devices with touchscreen graphics are simple to operate and editable to store multiple product changeover recipes. Flexibility is an advantage of these devices and is helpful for quick product changeovers. The FM and RP series have a steel chassis for multiple shifts of operations to ensure long lasting durability.

Minipack-Torre is one of the few manufacturers of packaging machines that recognizes the importance of energy. Their innovative technologies allow devices to use minimal energy by only heating for the cycle rather than maintaining a heated tunnel. This efficiency allows small businesses to wrap their products in a professional wrap that is easy to use and provides clarity while reducing the environmental impact and wrap costs.

Audion Elektro

Founding Year: 1947

Headquarters: Weesp, The Netherlands

Main Markets: Europe, USA, Asia

Key Products: Validatable Sealers, Vacuum Chambers, Shrink Systems

Focus Industry: Medical, High-End Retail, Life Sciences, High-Tech Parts

Audion Elektro is a high precision packaging machine manufacturer. For smaller businesses in a medical device and pharmaceutical products or high-end electronics markets, seal integrity is essential. Audion is able to provide validatable packaging technology to smaller laboratories and start-ups that operate in medical device manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and high-end electronics.

With the sealers and digital monitoring, users can control the Power sealers Temperature, seal time, and pressure, ensuring top-tier quality control. Users can set tolerances and the system will notify the users if they drifted out of tolerances. Small businesses can systematically obtain ISO certification or FDA compliance.

Audion packaging machines are designed to seal from basic polyethylene to complex laminates. Whether you need a simple seal machine or advanced packaging solutions, Audion sealers provide industrial grade packaging that is safe and compliant.

Frain Industries

Founding Year: 1981

Headquarters: Carol Stream, Illinois, USA

Main Markets: North America

Key Products: Equipment Rentals, Certified Pre-Owned/Refurbished Systems, Integration Services

Focus Industry: Food, Beverage, Personal Care, Contract Packaging

Frain Industries is not your typical manufacturer but rather an equipment rental and integrator service offering a wide range of packaging machines. Frain is a great fit for small businesses that need speed and financial flexibility for short term contracts or contracts with high demand spikes. Even when delivery time is quick, with a rental model businesses do not feel the financial burden of the equipment migration as it is an ongoing operational expense (OpEx) rather than a capital expenditure (CapEx).

Frain has one of the largest equipment inventories in the packaging industry from leading brands. They focus their refurbishment and upgrade efforts on PLCs with the safety systems. They refurbish to meet and exceed the production standard. This way small and flexible businesses do not need to worry about high purchase fees for top tier packaging machinery, they can simply rent it monthly. They offer everything from tray formers and stretch wrappers to flow wrapping machine units.

Pay as you go is one of the best strategies to mitigate financial risk. Frain has high demand equipment, including automated packaging systems for consumer goods, that can be easily shifted to new product lines. This way businesses can easily expand their operational capacity. Equipment can also be retained if the new product line (or purpose of the equipment) is performing brilliantly. If a high demand product line results from a successful pilot run, Frain has a great option to purchase. This is the reason Frain is the best option for ‘scalable equipment rental’. Frain overcomes the biggest hurdles of equipping new systems like high costs and time to delivery.

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing an Entry-Level Packaging Machine

Deciding to buy a new single machine is one of the most important decisions to make. It is important to understand the specific operational constraints of the business. The table highlights the most important ones for small businesses.

Comparing Semi-Automatic vs Fully Automatic Packaging Machines

Most small businesses do not automatically make the leap to automation packaging machines. There is a need to understand the trade-offs fully to optimize your ROI (Return on Investment).

Semi-automatic Machines require an operator to complete one part of the cycle (for example, when they have to place a bag, press a pedal, or load a container). Fully Automatic Machines do not require the operator to do anything for the whole cycle. The operator only needs to supervise.

Here is a break to help you understand which type of machine is the most relevant for your business.

The Hidden Costs of Packaging Automation for Small Businesses

The price of the machine is not the only investment the business makes. To enjoy the benefits of packaging automation, the following costs also need to be considered.

• Compressed Air Requirements: Most of the machines that are fully automated (especially VFFS and cappers) work with pneumatics. Most shop compressors do not work well with fully automated machines. Plan for an industrial rotary screw compressor with a dryer to ensure a clean and consistent air supply.
• Installation et mise en service : For optimal performance, professional installation should be performed. Your technician’s travel and labor fees will cover costs, and sleep easy knowing the production line will be positioned and calibrated within your specified tolerances.
• Spare Parts Inventory: To ensure production delays don’t occur, various essential parts (ex. heater bands or blade assemblies) will be required. Buying a recommended spares kit is a good investment.
• Formation : Some time and money should be set aside for operator training. Proper training should go beyond the operation of the machine so that advanced troubleshooting is conducted and the team is able to resolve some issues independently.

Réflexions finales

Automation should be viewed as a long-term investment, and a sequence of tasks. The manufacturers mentioned above have a long history of providing ways for flexible scaling of production, whether it’s modular design, ease of engineering, or a flexible rental: there are many methods to break the manual production barrier.

Finding the right automation solution is a big decision, but you don’t have to make it alone. At Levapack, we understand the unique challenges small businesses face because we have helped thousands of them scale up in various industries.

Whether you are just starting your research or ready to design a custom line, we are here to help. If you have any questions—about our machines, the canning process, or how to fit automation into your budget—feel free to ask us anytime. Contact our team today, and let’s discuss how we can help your business grow.