Designing Custom Bottles and Vials: A 9-Step Process

Amber glass or tinted plastic protects light-sensitive products.

A neck finish like 24-410 has two parts. The first number is the outside diameter of the threads in millimeters. The second number is the thread style. The bottle and the cap must match both numbers.

1. Define the product. Chemistry, viscosity, fill volume, and fill temperature.
2. Check regulations. Hazardous materials need UN-rated containers. Food and drug products need compliant materials. Your compliance team owns this step.
3. Pick the material. Match the material to the product chemistry using the table above.
4. Run compatibility testing. Fill samples and store at elevated temperature for several weeks. Check for leaks, swelling, paneling, and weight loss.
5. Choose neck finish and closure. Options include child-resistant caps, tamper-evident bands, induction seal liners, droppers, and pumps.
6. Fit the filling line. Confirm height, footprint, and stability on your conveyor, plus capping torque.
7. Choose stock or custom mold. A custom mold carries tooling cost and longer lead time. A stock bottle with custom decoration often gets you to market faster.
8. Decide decoration. Pressure-sensitive labels, screen print, or shrink sleeves.
9. Run a line trial. Fill, cap, label, and pack a full batch before the production order.

• Ordering by capacity without checking brimful vs. fill-line volume
• Matching the cap diameter but not the thread style
• Skipping compatibility testing to save a few weeks

Launching a new product or replacing a bottle?

Send us your product data sheet and fill volume.

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