Thinking outside the carton...

3 September 2012



Andrew Manly reports on how advances in carton erection machinery have been mainly in the feeding and loading area


The choice of machine types for erecting cartons has remained virtually unchanged for several decades. End load cartoners are the preferred choice for products that are easy to load and for their compactness; vertical cartoners are ideal for free-flowing products, and carton erector and top load systems are often the only solution for collations of products or products that are difficult to load.

So, apart from the introduction of servodrives and motors, it is outside the basic functionality of erectors where the major advances have occurred, particularly in the feeding and loading areas.

Some of these are in response to factors outside mere functionality, for example: sustainable design, use of thinner or even recycled cartonboard, or the desire for different styles of carton.

Feeding and loading

In recent years the increasing use of servomotors and software synchronisation of different machine modules, plus the development of new technology in the form of the servo racetrack collator or servo train, has allowed groups of products such as frozen fish fingers or cereal bars to be packed on end load cartoners rather than in top load systems.

Added to this is the increasing improvement in the loading operations through the use of robotics, usually delta design, which have increased performance and speeds. Indeed, companies such as Schubert and Cama specialise in complete solutions. Both have developed their own pick & place robots.

Schubert’s TLM is a complete packaging system while Cama produces machines featuring integrated robotics as well as stand-alone modules such as the MLS Monoblock Loading System, which is capable of handling wrapped confectionery bars at up to 650/min.

Other carton manufacturers are following this trend. Kliklok International now offers the CRL, a collating robotic loader and race track system suited to handle the output from low and high speed flowrappers and collate products into cartons or trays at up to 600 products/min, with a maximum load of 3kg. It incorporates advanced design electronic motion control technology using a combination of variable frequency control, servomotor drives and a robotic Flex Picker.

Three versions of the CRL are available depending on speed and tracking distance requirements, with optional modules such as a Carton Management System, which allows cartons to be either indexed into place or to be continuously moving while being loaded. Multiple CRL units can be positioned along a cartoner’s infeed conveyor to allow product from additional sources to be combined, enabling the full speed capacity of the cartoner to be utilised. Built-in ‘plug-and-play’ style, communication between the CRL units creates easy production line expansion with the addition of further units, according to Kliklok.

“More and more these days, customers are presenting us with projects which require specialist knowledge in actually handling the product into the cartoner infeed, rather than just supplying a standard cartoning machine” says Duncan Macintyre of UK agent Partners in Packaging (Machine Systems).

PiP represents German cartoning specialist Dienst Verpackungstechnik, offering modular servodriven cartoners for the food industry with bespoke loading systems for each application. The company has developed machines for a wide range of pack styles, including standard end load cartons, bag-in-box applications and gable top cartons, as well as high speed stainless steel machines for the frozen food industry.

While end loading cartoners are generally cheaper than top loading systems, which have separate erection, loading and closing modules, top loading systems are often the only way of automating complex carton erecting operations.

Top loading solutions

An established format in the pharmaceutical industry is to supply combination packs containing several different types of products, often for a specific treatment such as carrying out blood analysis or for self medication. The packs will combine products such as blisters, ampoules, bottles, pipettes, syringes, spoons, leaflets and pack inlays, either next to or on top of one another.

A recently introduced top load modular cartoning system is the TLC system from MGS Machine Corporation of the USA, also represented by PiP. This design can be expanded to meet future production needs, says the company. Suitable for dry food, pharmaceutical, and healthcare applications, the TLC system offers a variety of carton loading options as well as carton closing. The same module opens either auto locking–style cartons or forms a carton from a blank for both versatility and cost savings.

The TLC is servodriven, offers multiple carton loading modules including robotics and is within cGMP guidelines on a compact footprint, according to MGS.

Consistent and square carton or tray erecting is critical for the efficient operation of a top load cartoning system, according to Bradman Lake, part of the Langley Holdings Group.

The company’s HS Erector erects cartons and trays using a conventional four-corner lock system or hotmelt glue and can cycle up to 60 strokes/min. The machine uses a ‘direct placement’ method of feeding the carton blanks into the forming tool. Carton types that can be handled include: three flap closure, single flap closure with dust flaps, hooded lid closure, turn over end style and turn over end style with frame view.

The HSS all servo version erects cartons and trays using hotmelt glue or four corner lock and can cycle up to 75 strokes/min. This machine utilises a reciprocating ‘shuttle’ method of feeding the carton blanks into the forming tool and can erect various board types, including solid carton and corrugated board.

Robots can replace manual feeding in many applications. Bradman Lake produces two variants of top loader machines, the dual race track (DRT) and the single race track (SRT). Both machines employ the ABB FlexPicker IRB 360 delta pick and place robot in combination with a precision end of arm tool (EOAT). Groups of product can be top loaded at up to 85 cycles/min with a maximum payload of 3kg.

A carton management system of servodriven belts accurately spaces pre-erected cartons and delivers them to the carton loading stations. A servodriven vacuum infeed belt then conveys product into the DRT. Depending upon the infeed position, the DRT can produce either ‘flat pack’ or ‘on edge’ collations.

Sustainability with sleeves

The growth of chilled foods and ready meals has increased the demand for cartonboard sleeves. For such applications this can mean using less packaging as well as recycled material and lighter weights of cartonboard. These ‘wraparound’ sleeves enable the consumer to view the product itself. Sleeves used to be basically rectangular, but a wide variety of shapes and clever designs are now being used to give products a distinctive appearance in this very style-conscious sector of the food industry.

Traditionally, sleeves have been supplied pre-glued, which allows them to be placed on the pack either manually or by machine. However, an increasing number of customers are purchasing wraparound sleeving machines which apply the sleeve in the form of a flat blank around the product, securing it with either hotmelt adhesive or a tuck feature.

Kliklok originally developed its Certiwrap ‘wraparound’ cartoning range to cater for the growing trend for sleeves. However, over the years these machines have been supplied to accommodate a much wider variety of products such as soup pots, yoghurt drinks, tinned fish, ice cream tubs, even kitchen sponges.

Certiwrap machines offer easy size change and low maintenance, while the open design provides high visibility and accessibility, says Kliklok.

The C80 model is capable of up to 80 sleeves/min, and the C150 up to 150/min – round bowls, oval bowls and rectangular-shaped containers can be handled on the same machine.

Single or multipack tubs, trays, or pots can be sleeved, and the machines are also able to accommodate tray doming, where the film lid of a ready meal tray unintentionally expands in production.

Bosch Packaging Technology has reconfigured one of its well established machines to provide a sustainable solution for pharmaceutical components. Eco|Save|Pack, developed in conjunction with folding carton maker August Faller, is produced on the CUT 120 horizontal cartoning machine, first introduced in 2002.

Horizontal innovation

The pack protects fragile pharmaceutical products, such as syringes, vials, capsules, small bottles and ampoules or combinations of these, without the need for plastics inserts, avoiding the use of different packaging materials and several processing steps.

Eco|Save|Pack is a carton tray with product-adapted inlays. Due to its chambered design, the inlay provides protection for the product, which is held away from contact with the sides. It can be locked in place by clips, which prevents movement or contact with other contents.

Additional inserts such as patient information leaflets, outserts or pre-folded inserts from a roll or sheet can be included. The single packaging material makes usage of a plastics tray obsolete, claims BPT.

Compared with top load and blister packaging, Eco|Save|Pack has both cost saving and sustainable advantages, says the manufacturer. Inlays and carton trays can be produced by a single supplier and the implementation is fast and cost effective. Output ranges from 80 to a maximum of 120 cartons/min. CUT 120 is a cGMP-compliant design and can be retrofitted to offer this solution.

Vertical advantages

Vertical cartoners, handle the same style of carton as an end load cartoner, but vertically rather than horizontally. Traditionally, they are used for packing free-flowing products, such as rice or loose tea, directly into the carton or within a bag-in-box insert in the carton.

Bag-in box cartoning can be achieved using a vertical form-fill-seal machine and an end load cartoner or a vertical cartoner. There are significant advantages, in terms of seal quality and containment of the product, to filling the bags using a vertical ffs machine but, as the product does not settle very quickly, the bag and therefore box end up being much bigger than a bag-in-box produced on a vertical cartoner. This can give the consumer an impression of poor value for money as well as wasting materials.

The Rovema CMV vertical cartoner incorporates a vibration station to allow product that requires settling to be packed at high speed. The machine incorporates one or more bagging operations which load cartons with open top bags loose filled to, typically, 110% of carton volume.

As the cartons are taken around the machine the product is vibrated and settled to around 90% carton volume before the bag is lifted above the carton top for sealing. At this point air is evacuated mechanically from the over-sized bags, excess material is trimmed off, and the bag is allowed to drop back down into the carton before it, too, is sealed. A speed of up to 120 cartons/min can be achieved.

Cartoning challenges

A few years ago, some of the larger cartoning machine manufacturers may have been guilty of trying to add too many ‘bells and whistles’ to their equipment, forgetting the huge market which still exists for simple, low and medium speed intermittent machines, even semiautomatics. The rush for servodriven functions, auto size changes and higher speeds was very alluring.

Today, nearly everyone offers an ‘entry level’ machine in the 60-120 cartons/min range. This includes IMA of Italy with its Easy and Flexa machines, Oystar’s IWKA SI 4/6 and the ubiquitous CUT 120 from Bosch. This recognises the fact that expansion into new markets often requires a basic machine to make the breakthrough.

Of course, development of sophisticated high speed machines carries on, particularly for pharmaceuticals.

Continuous, fully servo-driven machines can achieve speeds of between 400 and 800 cartons/min. Again, the addition of features such as 2D matrix printers for track and trace or serialisation is increaingly becoming a necessity.

Looking at it from the carton design perspective, Koerber-Medipak’s Rondo division now offers a folding box with tamper-evidence protection, which can be applied without loss of line speed, the company claims. The Rondo system ensures that the cut-outs on the bottom flap and lid flap indicate when the pack has been opened. This solution is characterised by its simplicity and machinability, enabling the customer’s existing cartoner to run at 100% of its original specification.

Additionally, the trend to development of machines that can produce shapes of pack other than rectangular continues. But styles such as hexagonal, octagonal and other multi-sided packages are often produced on a classic carton erector which forms the pack from a flat blank, usually with the help of male and female mandrels.

It is evolution rather than revolution. And the ability to ‘think outside the proverbial carton’ has enabled established cartoning machine technologies to develop and adapt to meet modern requirements and performance levels.

“I think the key message these days is the ability to offer complete solutions for both existing and new styles of packaging across all industries,” confirms Duncan Macintyre of PiP, re-enforcing the message that feeding and loading are as critical to the customer as erecting and closing.


IMA Easy, a low speed 'entry level' machine IMA The MGS machine is a modular top loading system MGS The Eco|Save|Pack is created on the Bosch CUT 120 Eco|Save|Pack Kliklok's Certiwrap wraparound machines offer easy size change and low maintenance Kliklok The DRT top loader module comes in two versions DRT The HSS top load cartoner is fully servo-driven HSS The Rondo tamper-evident flap design can be incorporated without losing line speed Rondo Dienst machines can handle a variety of carton styles Dienst

Dienst Dienst
Rondo Rondo
Eco|Save|Pack Eco|Save|Pack
HSS HSS
IMA IMA
MGS MGS
Kliklok Kliklok
DRT DRT


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