Packer

The Packer is one of the Auxillary Machines in Big Pharma. Its function is to enable more efficient usage of export sockets, allowing each socket to handle up to 7 products per second as opposed to 1 product per second without packers.

The critical limitation of a packer is that the drugs it packs must be identical; combining different finished drugs into the same box is not possible.

Description
The Packer places multiple, identical finished products into a box which can then be exported.

Function
Unlike other machines, the packer does not improve the value of a drug or its effectiveness. Instead, the packer is used to improve how efficiently an export socket is used.

The maximum belt speed is 1. This means that without packers, the maximum rate that you can export a product is 1 product per second per export socket. With packers it is possible to export 7 products per second through a single export socket once the packers are fully upgraded.

The packer accepts one product from the assembly line and combines it with the next product in the next work cycle. When a box is full, it is placed on the output belt. By operating several packers in parallel, a socket can be used optimally.

The number of production lines producing at the maximum rate (1 product per second) that can be handled per export socket is equivalent to the number of products that your packers can currently put in a box. Ex. If your packers have a capacity of 2 then the maximum amount of production lines an export socket can handle is 2, assuming that those lines are producing at their maximum speed.

Of note, when using packers each production line must end in a packer otherwise there will be no gain in profit. Ex. If 2 max-speed production lines are connected to a single packer, the packer will export at a speed of only 1 product per second because its process time is 1. If the production lines are run to 2 separate packers then the product is exported at a speed of 2 products per second through a single export socket. This can be scaled up to a maximum of 7 products per second through a single export socket when using 7 fully upgraded packers each with their own max-speed production line.

For additional information
The Packer is discussed in Big Pharma Vlog #21 - Drug Packer and Industrial Espionage available on YouTube as well as Big Pharma - Drug Packer Tutorial available on YouTube.