Twin Head Carton Erector and 3-Flap Closer

Challenge 

April 2019 brought Leader, the creators of frozen Jalapeno Cheese, Crumbed Camembert and Southern Style Chicken Bites to RML HQ. They sought to reduce ongoing labour costs, improve line safety with less repetitive strain injuries and to provide better product presentation to the supermarkets.  

They were using a semi-automated skillet style 2 flap sealer and wanted to speed up the line by adding the carton erector and closer with manual loading in-between.  

Although a simple design/build, and similar to ones we had done for Vitaco and Tasman Bay Food Co, we ensured that the customer got the exact specification for their unique factory footprint and line management. 

Solution 

The erector and closer were both designed as standalone machines, both fitted with infeed and outfeed accumulation eyes to control the flow of cartons. Both were designed to work independently of the product supply conveyors which were supplied by the customer. Another nice example of the flexibility of our design approach.  

The erector had two magazines, pluck arms, glue sections, punch heads and forming mandrels and could form 2 cartons at a time. These were then conveyed for manual filling before the closer folded a top flap and glue sealed 3 outer flaps before ejecting.