Our History

RICHARD A. EDGINTON WAS EMPLOYED AS A MANUFACTURING MANAGER AT DIEHL MATEER COMPANY DURING THE EARLY PART OF '69.
By the middle of the calendar year DMC was sold to The Berwind Company. Richard, mostly referred to as Dick by co-workers, was uncertain about the future of the business after DMC was acquired by Berwind Company, and after a few disagreements with what would soon be his former boss, he decided to branch off and start his own business. With the opportunity to do it his way at the forefront of his decision, Dick founded All-Fill Inc. located in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

AS IF FOUNDING THE COMPANY, ESTABLISHING A COMMITTED AND HIGHLY QUALIFIED WORKFORCE WASN’T ENOUGH… BY THE END OF THE FIRST YEAR IN BUSINESS, ALL-FILL INSTALLED A TOTAL OF THIRTEEN AUGER FILLING MACHINES.
Dick was always determined to push the limits and made sure to listen to the needs of the customer/end user. As All-Fill established a still relatively small market share of the dry powder filling industry, there became a need to adapt to the ever changing demands of the customer. A few different OEM (original equipment manufacturers) had a need for a multiple spindle auger filling machine. Often referred to as a Multi-Fill, these machines utilized a common hopper/fill head oriented in line, perfectly spaced per the application. The Multiple Spindle Auger Filler allowed for All-Fill to venture into the realm of automatic packaging machinery, from the industry entry level of semi-automatic packaging machinery.

IN 1973, ALL-FILL OFFICIALLY BECAME A MEMBER OF PMMI (WWW.PMMI.COM).
PMMI (Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute) membership was truly a landmark moment for the company. PMMI is a trade organization consisting of manufacturers in packaging, processing and machinery components. In the early days of existence, the PMMI members were exclusively manufacturers of packaging machinery. PMMI publishes a magazine, PMT (Packaging Machinery Technology) and produces several Pack Expo trade show events most notably the annual, alternating year trade shows of Pack Expo-Chicago and Pack Expo Las Vegas. Both trade shows still serve as All-Fill’s best lead source today!

ALL-FILL WAS FIRMLY ON THE RISE AFTER ONLY FIVE YEARS IN BUSINESS. AS A RESULT OF OEM BUSINESS AND SOME VERY STEADY END USERS, ALL-FILL WAS ABLE TO START TAKING ON RISKIER APPLICATIONS.
Part curiosity and personal hobby, part business, Dick purchased the All-Fill airplane in order to have quicker accessibility to customers up and down the east coast. Call it crazy, perhaps it was but the importance of the plane was that Dick knew that All-Fill was here to stay.

AS ALL-FILL RAPIDLY PUSHED FORWARD ENTERING THE 1980’S THE CURRENT SPACE AT THE NEWTOWN SQUARE FACILITY WAS QUICKLY BECOMING AN ISSUE.
The original building would yield to a new facility located at 40 Great Valley Parkway, Malvern, PA. The Malvern facility was over 33,000 square feet and offered the opportunity for expansions. Within the new structure, All-Fill was able to dedicate full time spaces for the many sectors of the company including full staffed sales, engineering, machine shop, assembly, administration and crating teams.

AS THE TURN OF THE DECADE APPROACHED, ALL-FILL WAS A COMPANY OF JUST ABOUT 40 FULL TIME EMPLOYEES AND QUICKLY DEVELOPING A NICHE IN THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY FOR HANDLING TRICKY FILLING APPLICATIONS.
All-Fill has become known for being a very close knit group. Family members, friends and internal employee referrals made up a vast majority of the company-wide census at the time. The same still holds true today as the core group has remained intact. Because of the consistency and lack of turnover, All-Fill has been a stabilizing force that continues to be solidified. As custom machinery began to emerge in the marketplace, All-Fill’s diverse crew was ready to capitalize.

ALL-FILL HAS AND WILL ALWAYS ATTEMPT TO CONTROL OUR LEADS TIMES BY DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE “IN HOUSE.”
“We do not want to have to rely on anyone else that could possible effect our delivery, it is inevitable that we do have to work with vendors, but we like to eliminate all long lead time items so that we can work as fast as possible. Timing is everything and the customer appreciates that,” said Dick Edginton in 1979. As a result of the philosophy, Auger Fabrication was introduced as a compliment to All-Fill Inc.

1985: IN THE MID 1980’S, ALL-FILL WAS ACTUALLY PART OF AN ORGANIZATION CALLED, THE ALL-FILL GROUP. THE ALL-FILL GROUP CONSISTED OF ALL-FILL INC., ALL CONTROL SYSTEMS (ACS) AND AUGER MANUFACTURING (AMS). ALL-FILL INC. AND ACS SHARED A FACILITY TO WORK OUT OF IN THE GREAT VALLEY CORPORATE CENTER. TOGETHER, THE ALL-FILL GROUP HAD A SLOGAN, “FOR PACKAGING PROCESSES WITH A FUTURE… FROM CONCEPT TO INSTALLATION.”
The All-Fill group ultimately did not last more than a few years as AMS ultimately branched off as a result of the establishment of Auger Fabrication and ACS was sold. When ACS was connected with All-Fill though, All-Fill was able to utilize ACS expertise in PLC implementation to provide the control system required for custom and sophisticated filling applications. However, at that time the PLC system cost was very high so it was limited only to the high end filling applications. Mateer was still an industry leader for auger filling and they had a proprietary control called Neotron. ACS was asked to come up with the computer control to compete with the Neotron.

AS A CONTINUATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CEREBUS II CONTROL BOARD, ALL-FILL BEGAN TAKING ON MORE FILL BY WEIGHT APPLICATIONS.
The checkweighers were starting to become an industry standard and All-Fill was interested in getting into the market because the fit of a checkweigher directly after a filler was seamless. During the first half of 1987, All-Fill began to private label checkweighers that were manufactured in the UK, it was called HiTech. HiTech would manufacture the checkweighers per the filling application and ship it to All-Fill to have it integrated with the filler and other auxiliary equipment on the packaging line. The checkweighers from HiTech came along with the names of Champion, Hawk and Tribune.

ALL COMPANIES HAVE A GREAT SUCCESS STORY; ALLOW US TO PROUDLY SHARE OURS. ALL-FILL INC. IS A FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED THAT HAS THRIVED OVER THE COURSE OF THREE GENERATIONS OF EDGINTON’S.
Since the very beginning in 1969 some employees have come and gone, others are still employed to this day. The industry has changed and All-Fill was eager to adapt along the way. There were tough times, there were always great times. No matter the business, the key to success is hard work and determination. Never was this truer than the very beginning, the early years in which the first employees were laying the structural foundation and required work ethic for long term success and growth. At All-Fill, we have a great story to tell, enjoy following the history of our company throughout this blog series and we will get back to work so that we can continue writing future chapters…

THE EARLY 1990’S WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT ALL-FILL BEGAN TO CHANGE AS A RESULT OF THE TECHNOLOGY BOOM THAT WAS SOON TO FOLLOW.
All-Fill’s main offering has always been the semi-automatic auger filler model B-350-e, it is a staple and the backbone of the company. The B-350-e is a clutch brake driven machine; the design has been solid and is still the top quantity seller today in 2016. For those customers that were seeking a bit more precision from their auger filler and more versatility that a machine like the B-350-e could offer, the answer was found with the introduction of the servo motor. The servo motor or simply “servo,” as it has been shortened is a linear actuator that allows for the precise control of position, velocity and acceleration of the auger when vertically metering products. The servo motor, in conjunction with it’s own controller or drive, allowed All-Fill to offer a better auger filling machine, albeit at an increased price. “The servo motor was certainly not for everyone, there has and always will be a market for our model B-350-e clutch brake users, but the servo driven auger gives the end user/packager great flexibility. For those with many different and wide ranging products to package, the servo motor is absolutely the way to go,” said Raymond Arra, sales manager/regional sales manager.