Robots boost Northern board box production capacity

6 November 2012


The installation of two new ABB robotic machines to feed printers and folder gluers at UK packaging firm Northern Paper Board’s site in north Yorkshire is to be followed in November by a new automated stacking system for the company’s palletisation line.

As part of an ongoing £2.4m investment programme, Northern Paper Board is pumping £600,000 into its business in the current financial year.

The company has also installed a dedicated on-site server to enable direct links with robotics and automation systems technical experts at C-Tech Machines – the Belgium-based supplier of the new ABB robots – in an agreement that covers design, manufacture, supply, installation and after-sales service.

“This is an extremely powerful management and problem-solving tool,” says Northern Paper Board managing director John Curran.

Northern Paper Board says it is now the UK’s second largest manufacturer of solid board boxes primarily for the meat, poultry, fish and horticultural packaging sectors.

The current year’s investment is expected to give the firm the capacity to produce up to 150,000 boxes on a single day shift, with a product range that covers 4-point glued lids and bases to 6-point glued one-piece boxes, including PE-coated, uncoated and leak-proof boxes.

In the past three years, Northern Paper Board’s turnover has risen from £5.4m to £8.3m and is set to increase again in the current financial year, to an estimated £10m.


Northern Paper Board's John and Paul Curran with new robot from C-Tech



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