Speed, Footprint and Cost Will Help Guide You to the Right Case Packer
Written by Josh Goulet, account manager for Edson
In the battle of smartphones, Apple continues to win the hearts and minds of consumers. In North America, Apple’s catalogue of iPhones has a 52% market share, far outdistancing its nearest competitor, Samsung, at 26%, according to data from research firm Canalys.
Since the iPhone’s 2007 debut, Apple has released 13 versions, including its latest model, the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. While some consumers always upgrade to get their hands on the newest model, it is a pricey investment. People choose Apple for the quality, ease of use, information security and other reasons. For many, the 14 Pro would be a nice thing to have, but one of the earlier models is just as good and more friendly to their budget.
Coincidentally, these same ideas are seen when comparing case packers. For years, Edson’s 3600 case packer has been a fixture in the converted paper, diaper and nonwoven manufacturing facilities. Producing at a rate as fast as 26 cases per minute, it has rightfully earned a reputation as a 24/7 machine. It also has a large footprint, which can be a hurdle to navigate for those small to mid-size manufacturers that have limited space to operate in their facilities.
This was proving to be a dilemma for Edson; how does it satisfy those customers who were looking for a solution with the brand attributes of the 3600 but did not quite have the floorspace? This was not the only challenge the company faced. For some customers, speed and cost were issues as well. Not every application needs 28 cases per minute. Markets such as pet products (diapers, puppy pads), as well as away-from-home products, may only require 8 to 15 cases per minute. If a manufacturer is producing at this rate, their budget for a case packer likely will reflect that slower speed. The trick was to design a packaging solution with the quality and robustness of a 3600 but streamlined for those slower production applications.
The answer is the 3600C compact case packer. There are three main areas of distinction between the two models: speed, footprint and cost.
The No. 1 criteria for selecting a case packer is typically the production speed a customer is looking to obtain. The solution for an application calling for 10 cases per minute is going to be different than one looking for 20 cases per minute. Time and again, speed will dictate which direction the recommended solution will go.
Next is footprint. Many manufacturers operate out of older facilities that have become rather tight on space. If other adjoining equipment cannot be moved (which is often the case), then a company needs to make due with what it has. The space is the space. The case packer needs to operate safely within the available footprint.
The last determining factor is cost. Case packers are intricate systems, and the price reflects that level of complexity. Again, the application is going to drive the cost of the system. Producing 26 cases per minute is going to take a machine engineered to handle that speed and will be priced accordingly. On the other hand, a multi-million dollar system is not needed to accommodate a production run of 5 cases per minute.
The 3600C was designed with speed, footprint, and cost in mind. The footprint measures 20’ x 26’ and can accommodate a large range of case lengths between 12” and 28”, case widths between 8” and 24” and case heights between 7 1/2” and 24”. The machine can run both RSC and HSC case types.
Although the design is compact, it can still operate around the clock if production dictates; it has all the qualities and robustness of its bigger sibling.
To see if the 3600C is the right case packing machine for your next application, visit https://www.edson.com/, or access the site with your iPhone … any iPhone will do.
Josh Goulet is an account manager for Edson.
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