Anyone buying a cartoning machine faces the question early on: semi-automatic or fully automatic? The answer depends less on the machine than on your product, your output and your staffing situation. Here are the criteria we go through with customers.
The difference in one sentence
With a semi-automatic cartoning machine your staff place the product into the folding carton by hand. The machine erects the carton, indexes on, inserts the leaflet, codes and closes. With a fully automatic cartoning machine a feeding system also places the product.
Five criteria for the decision
1. Output and shift pattern
The higher the output and the more shifts, the sooner automation pays off, because the labour time saved covers the additional cost faster. [Add guide value from Kappler projects, e.g. from x cartons per year]
2. Format variety
If products and folding cartons change frequently, the semi-automatic cartoning machine often has the edge: staff adapt to a new product without changeover. An automatic feeder has to be changed over with every new product.
3. Product
Dimensionally stable products such as bottles and tubes are easy to feed automatically. Soft or delicate products, multi-part sets or pouches are often better placed by hand.
4. Staff
Do you have staff who can be deployed flexibly on the line? Then semi-automatic is a cost-effective solution. If staff are scarce or expensive, that speaks for the fully automatic cartoning machine.
5. Space and budget
Semi-automatic machines are more compact and cheaper to buy. The KC-V6, for example, needs only around 1140 × 1100 mm of floor space.
Semi-automatic and fully automatic compared
| Semi-automatic | Fully automatic | |
|---|---|---|
| Product placement | by hand | automatic feeding |
| Staff per line | 1 person per filling station | Monitoring and replenishment |
| Format variety | very high | high, feeder must be changed over too |
| Typical batches | small to medium | medium to large |
| Purchase cost | lower | higher |
The matching Kappler models
Semi-automatic models are the KC-V6 (one filling station), the KC-V8 (up to three filling stations) and the KC-V10 (up to five filling stations). Fully automatic is the KC-V10 Automatic with integrated product and carton feeding.
There is plenty of scope in between: the KC-V8, KC-V8 Large and KC-V10 can be equipped with automatic product feeding instead of manual filling stations – by robot or feeding system, for example for bottles and tubes. This way you automate where it pays off and keep the flexibility for everything else.
Conclusion
Many formats, small batches, flexible staff: semi-automatic is usually the better choice. High output of a dimensionally stable product and few staff: then the fully automatic cartoning machine pays off. If in doubt, we will work it out with you based on your figures.
