When the line switches from a 500mL product to a 100mL product at the same viscosity on the same filler, the setup technician needs the correct parameters immediately. Not a range. Not an approximation from the last time someone ran something similar. The exact pump stroke speed, the exact suckback volume, the exact nozzle dive depth that produces a clean fill without foaming or drip trail. That data lives in the setup sheet — and the setup sheet is only useful if it was entered correctly the last time the product ran.
Pump Dynamics — The Fill Quality Parameters
Pump Stroke Speed, Pump Stroke Speed #1, Pump Stroke Speed #2, and Pump Stroke Accell reflect a three-phase pump stroke profile. The initial speed (#1) controls fill start velocity — too fast on high-viscosity products causes air entrainment; too slow on low-viscosity products extends cycle time. The terminal speed (#2) controls the approach to the target volume. Pump Stroke Accell governs the transition between the two speed phases. On a rotary filler with twelve heads, a mismatched acceleration curve on one head produces fill volume variance that only shows up in statistical process control if you're running it.
Fill Suckback is the parameter that determines drip trail quality. At the end of the fill cycle, the pump reverses briefly to retract a small volume from the nozzle tip, cutting the liquid column cleanly and preventing drip onto the container exterior or the conveyor. A suckback set too low leaves a drip trail. Set too high, it draws air into the nozzle and causes the next fill to start with an air slug that affects volume accuracy. This number is product-specific: a water-thin sanitizer has a different optimal suckback than a 40,000 cP thick gel.
Nozzle Motion — Dive and Bottom-Up Profiles
Nozzle Dive Speed controls how fast the fill nozzle enters the container. On bottom-up filling — where the nozzle descends into the container and rises as the fill progresses — the dive speed affects whether the nozzle reaches fill position before the pump fires. Too slow and the first pump stroke fires with the nozzle still descending; too fast and the nozzle impacts the container bottom at speed.
Bottom Up Speed #1 through Bottom Up Speed #4 and Bottom Up Offset Distance create the four-stage ascent profile that follows the rising liquid level during fill. The transition from slower initial ascent (nozzle submerged in the forming liquid column) to faster terminal ascent (nozzle clearing the container neck) requires a separate speed parameter for each stage because the ideal speed depends on the fill volume remaining, the liquid behavior, and the container geometry.
Distance #1 through Distance #4 define the position thresholds at which each speed stage activates. Bottom Up Setpoint is the final position target. Dual Speed Percent of Max and Dual Speed Accell handle the dual-speed conveyor indexing that times container positioning to the fill cycle.
Product and Machine Configuration
Code, Product, and Fill Volume are the record identifiers — the product-specific combination that determines which setup parameter set is correct. The same product at a different fill volume needs different pump stroke parameters because the cycle time changes with volume. The same fill volume at a different product viscosity needs different suckback and dive speed values.
Pump Size, Pump Method, and Pump From define the physical pump configuration: what size pump head is installed, whether it's a peristaltic or rotary pump, and which supply tank or manifold it draws from. Hose Quantity, Manifold, and Nozzle Holder complete the physical setup record. Starwheel Number identifies the container-indexing mechanism configuration.
Main Line Conveyor, Drip Pan, and Resource capture the line configuration and the assigned resource — the machine number or cell identifier — that ran these parameters. Time logs when the setup was completed or verified.
A changeover without a setup sheet is a changeover that depends entirely on the technician's memory of the last run. On a line producing thirty SKUs across three shift rotations, memory is not a valid production control system.