Systems and methods of manufacturing dental restorative material packaged articles. A loaded barrel is retrieved from a plurality of identical loaded barrels, each including a universal barrel containing dental material and having a plunger coupling feature. A desired plunger assembly is selected from supplies of first and second plunger assemblies each including a plunger shaft, an auxiliary device, and a complimentary coupling feature. The first plunger assemblies differ from the second plunger assemblies. The selected plunger assembly is assembled to the loaded barrel, including engagement between the plunger coupling feature and the complimentary coupling feature. The resultant construction provides a packaged article that is operable to progressively dispense material by manipulation of the plunger assembly. Optionally, an outer sleeve and/or a cap is selected and assembled to the universal barrel. With the modular manufacturing methodologies, the universal barrel can be incorporated into a number of different fmal product configurations.
