Meeting Changing Food and Beverage Packaging Needs

Businesses will need to rethink their manufacturing processes and packaging methods to meet changing market, supply chain and consumer demands. This is true across food and beverage manufacturing, fulfillment, and ecommerce where sustainability is vital to continuing business models for food manufacturers, processors and packaging companies package their products.

Companies need to use automation to meet production schedules where low impact packaging is vital to cost, sustainability and product quality. The right shrink wrap machine working in various stages independently or in parallel with a carton erector and automatic tray former machine can help to lower packaging costs.

The ability to reconfigure these machines can lower cardboard content for some products where shrink wrap can complete the stable product shipping needs. They also play an important part in maximizing food production line packaging. Various forms of the shrink wrap machine are also playing a greater role in agricultural food processing by maintaining freshness in short delivery cycles. They also help to reduce costs and waste where corrugated packaging alone was once used.

Sustainability Initiatives like single use plastic reduction, the growth of recycled paper and cardboard packaging, and reduced packaging volumes are becoming mandates for many manufacturers. These process changes can be positively affected by the use of a shrink wrap machine, carton erector, and automatic tray former machines in conveyor production lines. They do this by providing flexible and agile options that can lower packaging solution costs via their reconfiguration ability.

As more manufacturers and fulfillment centers work to accommodate growing ecommerce needs, these solutions can support the reduced delivery times while meeting consumer expectations for quality, sustainability, and visibility, depending on the products. It can also meet warehousing and supply chain challenges where space management, assembly, and QA/QC can affect profit margins.

The growing role of automation in every production and fulfillment center environment is allowing full integration of the shrink wrap machine along with the carton erector and automatic tray former (which are also automated machines) into production lines. To keep pace with production needs, cost reductions and ongoing labor shortages, manufacturers are integrating these machines with cobots, robots and industrial internet of things (IIoT) sensors. This gives them the ability to maximize production flow and meet sustainable packing demands that affect sales and costs structures by:

• Implementing these secondary packaging machines within conveyor systems to handle material reduction strategies, throughput, and sustainability needs
• Accommodating box style flexibility to accommodate sustainability strategies
• Enabling the use of innovative pouches and sealers that are recyclable while meeting QA and needs

The sustainable packaging imperative is about more than just environmental concerns since these endeavors lower overall costs of production and product retail costs. Having the right machine automation to bring sustainability, quality, visibility, and maximum throughput enables manufactures to make investments now that bring immediate and long-term ROI as market and consumer demands change.

Learn more about how Conovey works with leader Gurki Packaging Machine Co. Ltd. to bring bottom line and sustainable packaging automation to manufacturers.