Oden Perspectives, Issue 2

Farrah Fawcett Shampoo, PrimePack/Cosmo Expo and the New Kid on the Block

When you’re the new kid on the block you need a bit of leverage to get noticed. So, back in 1980, when piston fillers reigned supreme, Oden did just that, jumped into the ring with a revolutionary new idea: electronically controlled, positive displacement rotary pump liquid fillers.

New ideas take time to absorb, especially when pitted against the old & embedded, tried & true method. And it takes a bit of moxie to buy a new-to-the-market filler based on a new and innovative technology. So, as might be expected, Oden fillers didn’t immediately ‘fly off the shelf’.

But before I get ahead of myself, here’s a bit of background. Pioneering cutting edge technology (what we do at Oden) is really just the means to an end. Oden customers have always been the driving force behind its accomplishments, as it should be.

In fact, it was someone else’s customer who first provided this driving force. He was filling Farah Fawcett shampoo for the W.T Grant Company, using a piston filler that was problematic. I don’t know if he made an on-time delivery or not, but I do know this chance meeting provided our tipping point. From the perspective of an industry outsider the piston filler was surprisingly unsophisticated. It was immediately apparent to Oden’s founder, Iver Phallen, that there was a better way to design a liquid filler and he decided to take up the cause.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to bring a dramatic change to the forefront, and that’s what Phallen did. Oden’s unique electronically controlled rotary pump fillers made their debut at the 1980 PrimePack/CosmoExpo show at the NYC Coliseum.

Fast forward 30 years and we’re no longer the new kid on the block. In fact, we now have a proven track record for quality fillers and excellent service; and we continue to raise the bar as we find new and innovative ways to solve our customers’ “rubik’s cube” applications.

Here are a few of the innovations Oden’s introduced these past 30 years:

1980

Pro/Fill Liquid Filling Systems, The first rotary pump + servo” liquid filling Methodology.       

Filling Nozzle Cut Off Valve: US Patent No. 4,917,348                                                            

1992

Pro/Matic FUlly Automatic Liquid Filler, Equipped with 6 Filling Nozzles and Oden’s Patented “Step Fill” Design

Precision Filling Machine: US Patent No. 5,168,905

1996

Net/Mass, The First “Coriolis Mass Meter Based” Net Weight Liquid Filler “Family”          

Net/Mass Liquid Filler: US Patent No. 5,996,650

2001

Mass/Blend Continuous Stream Digital Blending System

Continuous Liquid Stream Digital System: US Patent Nos.  6,186,193 and 7,357,563                                                     

2004

Servo/Fill Liquid Fillers Equipped with Oden’s Patented CleanGear Stainless Steal Gear Pump

US Patent No. 6,808,374 Sanitary Design Gear Pump                                                                 

                                                   

Best regards,
Phyllis Phallen

  I welcome your comments. Email perspectives@odencorp.com.