Cartoning Machine

Cartoning Machine

As common secondary packaging machinery, cartoning machine occupies a large market share, whose search volume is quite high on Google, and its demand continues to grow.

A cartoner machine erects or forms cartons first, then a worker, gripper, pusher, barrel cam loader, or robot loads products into the cartons and finally seals them.

They are widespread in many industries and play an important role in packaging many items.

• Pharmaceutical

Aerosols, bagged granules, blisters, ointments, oral liquids, plasters, vials, etc.;

• Food & Beverage

Wafers, egg rolls, coffee wrappers, seasoning packages, wine bottles, etc.;

• Daily Chemical

Toothpaste, soap, cosmetics, facial masks, lipstick, mosquito coil, etc.;

• Auto Parts

Piston rings, spark plugs, filters, automobile light bulbs, etc.;

• Stationery & Entertainment

Correction fluid, playing cards, puzzles, pens, staplers, staples, ink pads, glue, toys, etc.

• Hardware & Electrical Appliances

Bearings, bulbs, switches, relays, etc.;

SiroSilo supplies both vertical & horizontal cartoners, and they all have the following features:

• Wide carton styles compatibility such as tuck end, seal end, 123 bottom, auto bottom, etc.;
• PLC control, graphic touch screen HMI;
• High-quality components screened layer by layer;
• Inching button for simple setup;
• Emergency stop switch & optional safety cover protect the operator;
• Optional code printer, leaflet inserter, and hot melt glue applicator.

As a professional supplier, SiroSilo can customize ideal cartoning equipment or a suitable cartoning solution for you.

Please get in touch with us via email/WhatsApp for your dreamy cartoner customization.

Email: info@sirosilo.com

WhatsApp: +8617312124727

What is a Cartoner?

The cartoner is a packaging machine that erects and forms a folding carton, inserts the carton with a product, and closes the carton.

It is capable of cartoning many products, such as vials, blisters, bottles, soaps, pizzas, toothpaste, biscuits, and pouches, etc., saving labor costs & improving packaging efficiency.

As a machine that can replace 3-5 workers, it can work alone, or connect with other equipment (such as multihead weigher, FFS machine, conveyor weigher, case packers, cobot palletizer, etc.) to form a complete packaging line.

Working Principle

The cartoner grabs a carton blank from the magazine and erects it into a square shape;

Then, it seals the box bottom, inserts the product into the carton from the top or end opening;

Finally, it closes the carton by inserting tuck flaps or applying hot melt adhesive.

The product packaging in the following industries greatly benefits from it.

Vertical Cartoner

Its workflow includes 9 steps:

1. Grab the box blank to the starwheel
2. Fold the bottom dust flaps
3. Fold the bottom panel
4. Insert the bottom tuck flap
5. Top load product
6. Fold the top dust flaps
7. Fold the top panel
8. Insert the top tuck flap
9. Output closed carton

The video below clearly covers the above steps.

Horizontal End Load Cartoner

The following photo displays its workflow.

After the carton blanks are horizontally erected, the erected cartons enter a chain conveyor, and the products move forward on a bucket conveyor.

Next, the following steps are completed on the two synchronous conveyors.

1. Product End Loading
2. Dust Flaps Folding
3. Closure Panels Folding
4. Tuck Flaps Inserting
5. Closed Carton Outputting

Please watch the following video to digest it.

Types of Cartoners

To select the most suitable cartoner, you’d better understand its following types.

Cartoning Orientation

There are 2 types, one is the end load, and the other is the top load.

Top Load

It vacuums a box blank from the magazine, then erects it on the starwheel.

The front, back, and two side panels stand vertically.

Then, a staff or a customized loader loads the product into the carton from the top opening.

Such cartoners often pack products sold by weight or volume.

End Load

End load cartoners erect and form the carton blank in another way.

The front & back panels of the carton parallel the ground.

A pushrod pulls the product into the carton from one end.

Top Load V.S. End Load

Top load cartoners are suitable for packaging any product that will fall with gravity, especially for powder, granular, seeds, oral liquid, etc.

• Top Load Pros

It is compact with a small footprint, now capable of cartoning many products after a long development, and its price is cheaper than side load type;

• Top Load Cons

Different products & packages need custom-sized molds, replacing these molds leads to downtime.

Additionally, if your boxes come in many sizes, custom molds will cost you additional expenses.

End load cartoners are widespread in cosmetics, soap, toothpaste, and blister packing.

• End Load Pros

It’s very stable for a wide range of applications, especially suitable for packaging products stackable or in specific shapes.

Its speed could reach 1000+ cartons/min, its efficiency is quite high, and it is compatible with boxes of different sizes without molds.

• End Load Cons

Its high price has driven away many interested parties.

Motion Manner

2 types are available:

Continuous Motion

Judging continuous motion & intermittent motion involves two factors:

• Pause for Product Loading
• Product Loader Type

When the continuous motion machine works, there is no time interval between neighborhood product loading, and other motions such as blank grabbing, box erecting, and carton sealing also run as usual.

Such a machine introduces a barrel cam loader to insert products, each loader integrates multiple push rods.

It is much faster than the intermittent motion machine, but its price is also much higher.

Moreover, its complex operation requires higher operator competency compatibility.

Intermittent Motion

When the intermittent motion machine loads products, the carton carrier pauses for a while and then motions again after loading.

Its max. speed is about 40 CPM, beyond this speed, its stability is unacceptable.

Continuous V.S. Intermittent

Continuous motion equals higher price & speed, intermittent motion means lower cost & rate.

Compatible Carton Styles

The following five types are most popular.

Straight Tuck End Box

Its top & bottom tuck flaps are on the same side.

Reverse Tuck End Box

Similar to the straight tuck, only the top & bottom tuck flaps are on opposite sides.

123 Bottom Box

Snap lock or 1 2 3 bottom box, one side bottom closure panel inserts into the other side.

Auto Bottom Box

Auto-bottom or auto-lock bottom box, top tucking, bottom self-locking.

Seal End Carton

Hotmelt glue closure partly replaces tuck-in closure in pharma, medicine, and blister cartoning.

The box in the picture above is a full overlap seal end carton.

Partial overlap seal end carton is the other type.

Because of the additional hot melt adhesive applicator, a glue cartoner costs you more.

Hot Selling

Biscuit Cartoning Machine

SiroSilo customized a stick biscuits packaging line for an Egyptian client, this packing line includes a horizontal flow wrapper & a horizontal end load cartoner machine, and the cartoner applies hotmelt adhesive to close his seal end boxes.

The test video below records the entire workflow.

• Manual stick biscuits feeding;
• Stick biscuits conveying;
• Biscuits flow wrapping by HFFS machine;
• Wrapped stick biscuits conveying to feeder;
• Stick biscuits dropping into bucket;
• Biscuits loading to carton;
• Seal end carton dust flap & closure panel folding;
• Carton closing by hot melt glue;
• Closed carton outputting.

For multiple biscuit bag cartoning, you’d better order a bag counter & sorter in the video below, then place it in front of your cartoner.

Blister Cartoner

SiroSilo automatic blister cartoner completes carton forming, blister loading, and carton sealing, its fastest speed could reach 120 CPM.

It is suitable for cartoning one, two, three, or more layers of tablets, lozenges, capsules, suppositories, and pill blister packs.

Photoelectric eyes monitor the movement of each component throughout the process.

If an abnormality occurs, the machine will automatically stop and prompt the cause, allowing you to troubleshoot quickly.

The machine can work alone or combine the upstream blister packaging machine and the downstream case packer to form a packaging line.

Bottle Cartoner

Both vertical & horizontal cartoners are applicable for packaging bottles & vials.

Let’s start by watching a top load cartoner packing bottles.

This machine even marries an automatic bottle feeder, realizing automatic bottle cartoning.

Then let’s watch an end load cartoner packing facial cream bottles.

Cream bottles automatically entered the bucket conveyor, with a very high degree of automation.

The above two machines are ideal for packaging bottles of shampoos, conditioners, facial cleansers, makeup removers, hair dyes, eye drops, mosquito repellents, and more.

Pizza Cartoner

SiroSilo pizza cartoner can pack up to 80 pizzas per minute and supports a wide range of folding carton styles and a variety of carton sizes.

This automatic cartoning machine is also applicable for packaging egg tarts, ice cream, glutinous rice balls, cheesecakes, moon cakes, etc.

PLC and servo motor control enable the equipment to efficiently complete the processes of carton erecting, product loading, carton sealing, and empty carton rejection.

Pouch Cartoning Machine

On August 16, 2016, a pouch cartoning machine for a Malaysian customer was tested before delivery.

We collected mooncake pouches to put into the bucket conveyor.

Then we shared the following test video with the customer for confirmation.

The customer agrees to delivery after watching this video.

Sachet Cartoning Machine

A sachet cartoning machine is a type of packaging machinery that automatically packs sachets of granules and powders into folding cartons.

It could help you improve sachet packaging efficiency and maintain a fast-running state smoothly and tirelessly.

This kind of cartoner equipment always co-works with leaflet folding, conveying, checkweighing, and labeling equipment to run together.

It will also add an empty carton rejector, removing the empty carton automatically.

Soap Cartoning Machine

The soap cartoning machine could automatically push the soap bars into a small folding carton.

Two toothed chains convey the soap bars and the erected carton respectively, when both toothed chains reach the cartoning station, a set of push rods inserts the bar into the carton.

There are two types of soap cartoners, intermittent motion & continuous motion.

The fastest soap cartoner packs more than 1000 cartons per minute.

SiroSilo, a Chinese cartoner supplier, could also provide these two types, but the maximum speed is 300 CPM.

Toothpaste Cartoning Machine

The toothpaste cartoning machine is suitable for putting toothpaste, ointment, hair dye, facial cleanser, conditioner, mustard, and other squeeze tube products into cartons, and closing the cartons.

As shown in the video below:

It can run independently, and it’s also linkable with a labeler, tube filling and sealing machine, heat shrink wrapper, case packer, and strapping machine to form a packaging line.

Some customers request to add an automatic toothpaste feeder and a leaflet inserter.

As long as you propose, we could customize it for you.

Robotic Cartoning

Robotic cartoning introduces programmable robots for product picking & placing.

In a vertical cartoning machine, the robot picks the product up and places it directly into a carton that opens on top;

When the robot works with a side load cartoner, it grabs the product and places it into a bucket.

The bucket carries the product to the cartoning station where a push rod or barrel cam loader inserts the product into the carton.

Cartoning Line

The cartoning line generally consists of cartoning equipment and some upstream/downstream equipment.

On Jun 23, 2021, a Dutch client Mr. Rob contacted us.

Mr. Rob requested us to customize a rotating small vertical cartoner for packaging plant seeds, he’d like to pack the cartons with top filling and hot melt closing.

He also requested us to add dosing equipment for dropping seeds, 250-1000g each time.

Then, we designed a weighing & cartoning line for him.

This cartoning line includes:

• Vibration Feeder
• Z-shaped Conveyor
• Multihead Weigher
• Working Platform
• Vertical Cartoning Machine
• Closed Carton Conveyor

Manufacturers

Manufacturers listed below are heavyweight players in this niche.

• acg
• bergami
• bosch/syntegon
• bradman lake
• clybourn cartoner
• dividella
• econocorp
• hoonga
• ima
• iwk
• marchesini
• romaco
• tishma
• uhlmann

Compared with these brands, Chinese manufacturers still have to work hard to catch up.

However, as the Chinese government promotes the transition from “Made in China” to “Create in China”, the gap is gradually narrowing.

Chinese cartoners can meet some mid-level and even a few high-level requirements now.

Price

Cartoning machine price depends on its type, speed, options, and brand.

Generally speaking, horizontal cartoning machines are more expensive than vertical ones;

Continuous motion cartoners are much faster than intermittent motion ones, and their price is much higher than the latter;

If you add options such as code printer, leaflet inserter, labeler, hotmelt glue applicator, etc., the price will also increase;

Current Chinese mainstream cartoners’ speed is ≤100 CPM and their price is between 10,000.00 and 30,000.00 US dollars.

If you plan to purchase a cartoner, contact us to build a connection via Email or WhatsApp.

Email: info@sirosilo.com

WhatsApp: +8617312124727

Cartoner Choices

Cartoner choices involve the following factors.

Carton Styles

The following four folding carton styles are the most common:

• Tuck End
• 123//1-2-3/Snap Lock Bottom
• Auto/Auto-lock Bottom
• Full/Partial Overlap Seal End Box

After confirming your carton style for your supplier, they can recommend a suitable model to you swifter.

Box Sizes

Compatible box size (L x W x H/D) is an important parameter.

All your box sizes should be compatible with your desired machine.

If your box size is out of range, please select a suitable supplier to customize your dreamy cartoning solution.

Carton Design & Material

Folding cartons must be pre-creased (deep creasing line) during production at the factory, and the erecting directions of all your boxes must be consistent.

Some cartons are produced from recycled materials, which have higher requirements on the cartoner, you’d better send sample cartons to the supplier for testing first.

Product & Package

As long as your products & package are suitable for placing on a flat surface and loading into the carton with a push rod, you can choose an end load cartoner.

For the following situations, we recommend you choose a top load cartoner.

• Your products & packages are diverse, cartons come in multiple sizes, and size differences between each box are a bit large;
• A compact vertical rotary cartoner is better for you if your site space is small;
• Your product or material is relatively loose and free-flowing, such as powdered or granular items.

Speed

If your cartoner works alone, you must make sure its speed can match your daily throughput requirements;

For cartoning machines integrated into a packaging line, their speed must match the upstream & downstream equipment.

The faster the machine, the higher the price, please carefully choose the suitable speed based on your future focus.

Size Changeover

For cartoning machines that are compatible with several sizes, size changeover is an unavoidable issue.

Size switching will cause some downtime.

Different cartoning machines consume different size switching times, please confirm it with the supplier in advance.

Combination & Integration

As a secondary packaging machine, the cartoning equipment is usually in the middle of the packaging line.

It may connect an upstream FFS machine or tube filler and combine a downstream checkweigher, labeler, heat shrink film tunnel, or case packer.

Please make sure your preferred cartoner can communicate with upstream & downstream equipment.

Your supplier should have extensive experience in packaging line integration.

Footprint

The footprint is also an unavoidable factor in any packaging line design.

Before purchasing cartooning equipment, please plan your production line, and measure the length & width of available space.

To facilitate machine maintenance, the measured length & width should be 0.6-1m larger than the machine length & width.

Technician Competency Compatibility

Cartoner operation & maintenance require certain craftsmanship.

An outstanding operator can help you increase productivity and reduce machine failure rates & downtime.

We suggest you pay attention to training some high-quality operators or pay a higher price to hire one.

Safety

The complex cartoner integrates a variety of hard metal fittings, and accidents may occur due to improper operation.

Therefore, the cartoner usually has an emergency stop switch.

Some cartoners can also add protective doors and a built-in safety switch.

If the protective door opens in production, the machine automatically stops to protect the operator.

You have scrolled this far, so why not contact us to get a quote for comparison and enjoy worry-free sourcing services like our American customer Mr. Bob?

Email: info@sirosilo.com

WhatsApp: +8617312124727