Packaging Automation
Automate repetitive packaging steps and create a more consistent path from product preparation through the finished load with packaging automation solutions matched to your product, package, production volume, available space, and workflow.
ATP Equipment Solutions helps businesses evaluate standalone machines and coordinated packaging processes for bagging, forming, filling, packing, protecting, sealing, strapping, wrapping, and palletizing.
Packaging automation uses machinery and controls to perform one or more steps involved in preparing a product for storage, distribution, or shipment. A solution may address a single bottleneck, such as bagging, case sealing, or stretch wrapping, or coordinate several packaging stages as production volume and complexity increase.
The appropriate approach depends on the product, package format, production volume, required protection, job mix, staffing, available space, and equipment already in place.
Packaging automation should begin with the product and finished package, not with a predetermined machine. ATP evaluates how the product enters the process, how it must be protected, and how the finished package moves to the next stage.
Create or prepare the package, then load the product using equipment such as automated baggers, form-fill-seal systems, case erectors, or right-sized box systems.
The correct approach depends on the product, packaging material, package size, filling method, and production requirements.
Place products into bags, cartons, trays, cases, shrink or skin packages, then add cushioning, void fill, or protective material when the application requires it.
Protection should be evaluated around product weight, fragility, movement, package dimensions, storage, and transportation.
Seal cases using tape or another approved closure method, then strap products, cartons, bundles, or loads when additional containment is required.
Closure and securing equipment should be matched to the package, production speed, material, and handling environment.
Prepare completed packages for storage and shipment using palletizing and stretch wrapping equipment selected around the load pattern, stability requirements, throughput, and available space.
Palletizing capabilities are offered where they are supported by ATP's approved equipment portfolio.
The best packaging system is not always the machine with the highest advertised speed or the greatest number of automated features. The right approach should fit the actual production environment.
Evaluate the product dimensions, weight, shape, fragility, orientation, packaging material, and finished package requirements.
Review average production, peak periods, number of package formats, changeover frequency, and expected growth.
Determine how the product must be contained, cushioned, sealed, strapped, wrapped, or stabilized for storage and transportation.
Review current equipment, operator involvement, floor space, utilities, material staging, upstream processes, and what happens after packaging.
ATP uses this information to help determine whether the application calls for a semi-automatic station, an automatic machine, or a packaging process involving several coordinated stages.
Discuss Your Packaging ApplicationBrowse equipment used to form, fill, pack, protect, seal, secure, wrap, and prepare products for storage or shipment.
Browse All Packaging Automation EquipmentAdd dates, lot numbers, barcodes, serial numbers, and other variable information directly to products and packaging.
Explore Coding & Marking SolutionsApply preprinted or variable-data labels to products, packages, cases, and pallets.
Explore Labeling & Print-and-Apply SolutionsMove, accumulate, inspect, document, and route completed products, cases, and pallets.
Explore Material Handling & End-of-Line AutomationExplore ATP's capabilities for connecting packaging equipment, conveyors, controls, coding, labeling, inspection, robotics, and other production technologies.
Packaging automation uses machinery and controls to perform repetitive packaging tasks such as bagging, forming, filling, packing, protecting, sealing, strapping, wrapping, or palletizing. A system may automate one production step or support several coordinated stages.
Yes. Many operations begin by addressing a specific bottleneck, such as case erecting, sealing, bagging, strapping, or stretch wrapping. ATP can evaluate how a standalone machine would fit with the equipment and workflow already in place.
Semi-automatic equipment normally requires an operator to load, position, or initiate part of the process. Fully automatic equipment detects and processes products with less direct operator involvement, but it also requires consistent product presentation and appropriate upstream and downstream controls.
Helpful information includes product samples, package dimensions, packaging materials, production volume, required speed, current labor steps, protection requirements, available floor space, existing equipment, and photographs or video of the process.
Tell ATP Equipment Solutions what you are packaging, how it is packed today, where the process slows down, and what the finished package must accomplish.