Choose Automated Case Packing To Match Product Needs

By John Henry, www.changeover.com

It's easy for a magician to pull a rabbit out of a hat. The hard part is getting it in there to begin with. Likewise, your shipping cases. How do you place your product into the case?

I am using "case" here in the generic sense to refer to corrugated boxes − typically RSC, but other styles as well. Many people use the term “case packing” to refer to the entire process of erecting the preformed knocked-down case, closing the bottom, loading the case and closing the top. Sealing with glue or tape usually takes place within this process as well. Some machines, called wraparound case packers, use a flat blank and form the case around the product. In this article, I use the word case packing in its strict sense of getting the product into the case.

Case packing may seem like a good candidate for hand labor. It can easily be done with low-cost, unskilled labor and avoids tying up capital in a machine, along with the added operational complexities automation can bring.

In reality, manual case packing is often tedious and ergonomically unsafe. In addition to reduced labor cost, automated machinery may have a payback in reduced workers compensation claims. Automated machinery will also run at a constant speed which can help pace the packaging line.

There are a number of different types of case packers in the marketplace. None are universally suitable, and it is critical to match the type of case packer to case and product. To do this, one must know the major styles, what they are good at and what they are not good at.

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