Twin Head Erector and 3-Flap Closer

Challenge

TipTop has purchased four machine solutions from us in the past. Due to the success of our past collaborations, we were selected to work on their latest project. The challenge was to design, manufacture, and deliver four machines customised to suit Tip Top’s requirements. The brief was to erect, load, and close four carton sizes; and feed these into a case packer with the ability to pack the cartons into five shipper SKUs; with all of this being done at 300 ice creams per minute. In addition, everything needed to fit into a small footprint. The delicate nature of the chocolate skin on the bars meant we had to be as gentle as possible.

Solution

The erector machine is capable of erecting a wide range of carton sizes and styles, display, three flap or open top. In carton board (fibre) or fluted cardboard. The erector is capable of producing up to 75 cartons per minute. Flat carton blanks are loaded into the two magazines, the blanks are plucked, glue is applied and then formed through a dedicated toolset by a matching punch. A dedicated change of parts per carton removes the chances of an incorrect set-up by operators during a size change.

The 3-Flap closer machines function is to glue close 3 flap-style cartons at a rate of up to 75 cartons per minute. The closer is capable of closing cartons with a wide range of lengths, widths and heights in either carton or fibre board. Filled cartons are conveyed into the machine, and a gating system singulates the cartons and conveys them through a first glue and compression section to close the two outer flaps. The cartons are then rotated and conveyed through a second glue and compression section to close the remaining flap. This model was customised to suit a very narrow footprint window. This machine was also fitted with coding for BB and batch information.