Sawvel Automation

What Sawvel Automation does

Sawvel Automation (legal entity T.D. Sawvel Company Inc) is a family-owned, Maple Plain, Minnesota-based manufacturer of automated food packaging equipment founded in 1976. Its product portfolio covers the full packaging workflow: destackers for container separation; fillers in time, piston, volumetric, and liquid-scale variants; sealers for roll stock and die cut applications; lidders for container closure; ice cream variegators and pattern-creation systems; pneumatically operated product valves; inline blenders; and the Model 2500 Can Carrier Applicator for breweries. The company differentiates through its proprietary Bottom-Up Volumetric Filling technology (which eliminates air gaps) and the Sawvel-AAA sanitary design line, engineered to exceed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements for cultured dairy products. Container sizes handled range from 1 ounce to 6 gallons and equipment speeds from 5 to 200+ containers per minute.

The business operates a sales-led, direct factory go-to-market anchored by phone-based equipment sales (763.479.5460) and a quote request workflow, with supplemental demand generation through trade shows (Pack Expo, Pro Food Tech) and partnerships with industry associations (IDFA, NICRA, PMMI) and complementary equipment makers (Tetra Pak, Emery Thompson). Pricing is quote-based and project-driven rather than list-published; revenue is generated through one-time equipment sales, multi-year service contracts covering rebuilds, field service, training, replacement parts, and continuous update kits, plus customer financing via operational leases and payment plans. Sawvel serves both small batch artisanal producers and high-volume national CPG manufacturers, citing 650+ customers globally and an installed base producing 500 million containers annually; named customers include Dean Foods, Conagra, Unilever, Kraft, Land O'Lakes, Hershey's, Haagen-Dazs, Nestle, Kroger, Tillamook, Baskin Robbins, Kemps, Hood, Turkey Hill, and Dairy Farmers of America. The firm is led by second-generation owner Troy Sawvel, who assumed the presidency from founder Tom Sawvel on January 1, 2001, and operates without external institutional or private equity ownership.

Name

Sawvel Automation

Legal name

T.D. Sawvel Company Inc

Website

https://sawvelautomation.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sawvel Automation is a family-owned Minnesota manufacturer founded in 1976 that designs and builds automated food packaging equipment, including fillers, sealers, lidders, destackers, variegators, and can carrier applicators, serving over 650 dairy, ice cream, food, and beverage customers worldwide through direct factory sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Food Packaging Equipment

NAICS

Packaging Machinery Manufacturing (333993), Food Product Machinery Manufacturing (333241)

SIC

Special Industry Machinery (No Metalworking Machinery) (3550)

akta.pro primary industry

Filling & Dosing Machines (Liquid/Powder/Solid) (IMAHAOAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

End-of-Line Integration & Packaging Line Systems (IMAHAOAN), Conveying, Feeding & Accumulation Systems (Packaging Lines) (IMAHAOAK)

Keywords

• Food packaging equipment
• Container filling machinery
• Automated filling systems
• Ice cream variegators
• Sanitary packaging equipment

Headquarters

HQ city

Maple Plain

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Equipment Sales: Sale of automated food packaging equipment including fillers, destackers, sealers, lidders, pattern creators, product valves, tabletop solutions, inline blenders, and can carrier applicators. Equipment ranges from tabletop/small batch to high-volume industrial machines.
2. Service and Support: Comprehensive service offerings including custom design consulting, field support, training, rebuilding/retooling, replacement parts, technical support, and update kits for continuous equipment improvement.
3. Operational Leases and Payment Plans: Financial options including operational leases, payment plans, and budget estimates to make equipment accessible to customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Sawvel Automation designs, manufactures, sells, and services automated food packaging equipment for dairy, food, ice cream, and beverage producers. The product line spans fillers (time, piston, volumetric, liquid scale), destackers, sealers, lidders, pattern creators/variegators, pneumatically operated product valves, tabletop/small batch systems, inline blenders, and the Can Carrier Applicator Model 2500. Equipment is built to handle container sizes from 1 ounce to 6 gallons at throughputs of 5 to 200+ containers per minute, with custom engineering for unique container shapes and product viscosities. The company also delivers lifetime technical support, replacement parts, rebuilding, training, and financial options such as operational leases and payment plans.

Product overview

Sawvel Automation is a food packaging equipment company that has provided innovative food packaging equipment since 1976. The product portfolio consists of integrated equipment solutions across the packaging process: Destackers for container separation, Fillers (time, piston, volumetric, and liquid scale types) for filling operations, Sealers for roll stock and die cut applications, Lidders for container closure, Pattern Creation (variegators) for ice cream and frozen products, Product Valves (pneumatically operated PVA assemblies) for flow control, Tabletop and Small Batch Solutions for local producers, Inline Blenders for product mixing, and the Can Carrier Applicator Model 2500 for brewery applications. The Sawvel AAA line offers equipment designed to meet or exceed FDA FSMA requirements. Equipment ranges from tabletop compact units for small batch producers to high-speed rotary machines for high-volume operations, processing containers from one ounce to six gallons.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sawvel-AAA: Equipment line designed to meet or exceed the highest sanitary standards for cultured products like yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. Designed to comply with FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

Products and services

• Sawvel AAA Equipment Line Equipment line engineered and built to meet or exceed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) sanitary requirements, targeted at cultured and sensitive products such as yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter, ice cream, and cheese. Designed for cleanability and compliance with sound sanitary design principles.
• Destackers Single and multi-head destacking equipment that separates nested packaging in a range of shapes (square-round, rectangular, round, square) and sizes from 1 ounce to 6 gallons, plus trays, at throughputs from 5 to 200+ containers per minute.
• Fillers (Time, Piston, Volumetric, Liquid Scale) Automated filling machines available in four technology variants — time filling, piston filling, volumetric filling (including Sawvel's proprietary Bottom-Up design), and liquid scale filling — for processing thin liquids through thick products like guacamole and fresh churned butter. Serves both small batch and high-volume producers.
• Sealers Roll stock and die cut sealing equipment for both film and foil materials from 1 to 12 inch diameters, maintaining product freshness and providing tamper-evident sealing at speeds up to 75 cpm on small diameter applications. Available as stand-alone units or integrated into full packaging lines.
• Lidders Lidding and capping machines for containers from 8 ounces to 6 gallons, supporting gasket, non-gasket, tamper-evident, and wipe-on lid types at speeds from 1 to 80+ containers per minute. Available in stand-alone or integrated configurations.
• Pattern Creation (Variegators) Ice cream variegators and pattern creation systems with rotating liquid injection for secondary sauces (chocolate, caramel, fudge, strawberry), Ice Cream Revel Adaptors, Neapolitan adaptors (up to five flavors), decorative fill nozzles, and marbling blenders for multi-color patterns.
• Product Valves (PVA) Pneumatically operated Product Valve Assemblies (PVA) providing flow control for filling systems, including three-way divert valves in 1.5" to 3.0" sizes, liquid filling valves, and multi-purpose filling valves for liquids through dense products such as potato salads and butter.
• Tabletop and Small Batch Solutions Compact filling and lidding solutions for small, high-quality producers, including tabletop piston fillers, variegating piston fillers, tabletop time fillers, tabletop lidding systems, automatic tabletop filling machines, and compact rotary filling machines.
• Inline Blenders Driven and static inline blenders for ice cream, frozen yogurt, whipped butter, and similar products, available in 2.0" to 4.0" line sizes with a range of electric drives to control blending patterns, uniformity, and formulation.
• Can Carrier Applicator (Model 2500) Model 2500 Can Carrier Applicator with clean stainless steel wash-down design, dual-feed wheel applicator for 4 and 6 pack options in 12 and 16 ounce cans, base speeds of 20 to 60 containers per minute, and optional speeds up to 140 cpm. Targeted at breweries and beverage companies.
• Service and Support Aftermarket service program covering custom design consulting, on-site field support, operator training, machine rebuilding and retooling, replacement parts (100% coverage for all equipment ages), technical support, and update kits to improve older equipment. Delivered by Sawvel's factory-based and field service technicians.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500 million containers filled annually on customer production lines using Sawvel equipment
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Airlite PlasticsminorOthersContainer supplier partner in Omaha, NE offering plastic containers for food packaging applications.
• Berry PlasticsminorOthersMajor plastic container manufacturer partner based in Evansville, IN.
• Tetra PakcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerContinuous freezer manufacturer partner for ice cream production lines. Serves as recommended resource for complete ice cream manufacturing solutions.
• Emery ThompsoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBatch freezer manufacturer partner for ice cream production. Recommended as resource for ice cream manufacturing complete solutions.
• Penn State UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity partner offering ice cream short course education through the Food Science department. Robert Roberts is Professor and Head of Food Science.
• International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor industry association partner representing dairy food manufacturers. Sawvel participates in IDFA events and partnerships.
• National Ice Cream Retailers Association (NICRA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry association partner for ice cream retailers. Sawvel participates in NICRA events and partnerships.
• Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (PMMI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrade association for packaging and processing professionals. Sawvel participates in Pack Expo through PMMI.
• Huhtamaki North AmericaminorOthersPaper container supplier partner based in De Soto, KS. Historical partnership includes Sealright equipment orders in the 1980s.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• ProMach: ProMach is a major US-based packaging machinery integrator with strong presence in food and beverage filling, labeling, and container handling. It directly competes with Sawvel across filling, sealing, and end-of-line equipment for food producers, while operating at much greater scale.
• Filling Equipment Co. Filling Equipment Co. designs and manufactures liquid filling machinery for food, beverage, cosmetics, and chemical applications. It is a comparable US-based specialty filler competitor with similar product breadth in time, piston, and gravity fillers.
• Serac (Carbier Group): Serac specializes in aseptic and non-aseptic liquid filling equipment for dairy, food, and personal care products. Its filling technologies and sanitary design capabilities directly overlap with Sawvel's fillers and AAA sanitary line.

Broad incumbents

• Krones AG: Krones is a global leader in liquid food and beverage packaging machinery, including fillers, labelers, and complete bottling/canning lines. While focused more on beverage, its filling technologies and capacity range overlap with Sawvel's volumetric and scale fillers.
• GEA Group: GEA supplies processing and packaging equipment for dairy, food, and beverage industries worldwide, including separators, homogenizers, and filling lines. Its broad portfolio overlaps with Sawvel's filling and processing equipment for dairy and cultured products.
• Tetra Pak: Tetra Pak is the world's largest dairy and food packaging equipment company, offering integrated processing, filling, and packaging lines. It is both a Sawvel strategic partner and a broad incumbent whose continuous-freezer-integrated filling systems compete with Sawvel's ice cream line.
• Multivac: Multivac is a global packaging solutions provider specializing in thermoforming, tray sealing, and vacuum packaging equipment for food and medical markets. Its tray sealing and rollstock capabilities overlap with Sawvel's sealers and lidding equipment.
• Coesia Group: Coesia is a group of industrial packaging machinery companies including GDM, Volpak, and Flexpak, serving personal care, food, and consumer goods. Through GDM and others it competes with Sawvel in filling and packaging for food and dairy applications.
• SPX FLOW: SPX FLOW (now under private ownership and operating as APV, Gerstenberg Schroeder, etc.) supplies food and beverage processing and filling equipment globally. Its filling and mixing technologies overlap with Sawvel's inline blenders, product valves, and fillers for dairy and ice cream applications.
• KHS GmbH: KHS is a leading German manufacturer of filling and packaging systems for beverages and liquid food. Its rotary fillers and integrated packaging lines compete with Sawvel in dairy liquids, sauces, and beverages at high-volume scales.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/t-d-sawvel-co-inc-

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sawvel Automation