Today's Cartoners Offer Real Packaging Innovation

Cartoners are machines that take flat, cardboard blanks, open them, fill them with product, and then glue and close the ends, in effect, creating and filling the carton at the same time. Basically, the carton is assembled right around the product, which has been inserted via one of the carton’s open ends prior to gluing. Machines such as these are designed to complete a number of simultaneous and intricate processes which must be precisely coordinated to fulfill their functions effectively. Today’s versions of this type of cartoning equipment are modern marvels of precision and synchronization that, compared to their predecessors, demonstrate real innovation and significant progress in product packaging techniques. Only a few short years ago, these machines were far less efficient mechanical versions of the automated time- and labor-savers that are currently in use. The product insertion process alone requires a complex series of carefully timed actions as the machinery opens and moves the box into place to receive the product, which must then be inserted before the carton moves along for the next phase of the packaging process. Once each filled package moves out of range, the next batch of product must be ready to move into place, beginning the entire process all over again as the next blank arrives for opening, filling and gluing. This automated equipment completes these functions at extremely high speeds, maximizing throughput.

A Look at Packing Line Integration

Cartoners operate as part of a standard packaging line and can be seamlessly integrated into an existing pack and ship operation because they use a compatible in-line process that utilizes a conveyor belt as the central axis which moves individual cartons along to each stage of the operation. All other axes revolve around and are driven by this central operational axis. At the first stop after the machine detects product, grabs and opens a blank, and glues the back end closed, an in-feed conveyor feeds product into the still-open box end. This is accomplished either through a synchronized in-feed of the product into the cartoner pockets by the conveyor or an adjustment of product position once inside the carton by the cartoner.

Cartoners and their Applications

Cartoners come in synchronized and continuous models, both of which are designed to accommodate a wide range of carton sizes, production capacities, and product types. Bag-in-box applications are well-suited to this type of equipment. Some bag-in-box products packaged via the cartoner method include cereal products, dry milk, baby food, coffee, snacks, and confections. Frozen foods, such as meats and fish, French fries, and pre-cooked meals also lend themselves well to this type of equipment. Among the bagged snacks that use this technology are peanuts, tree nuts, potato and other types of chips, and cheese snacks, to name a few. Link back to the Cartoners page.