Economic in production, convenient for the consumer
Side-loaded packages with perforated lids offer an economical and convenient solution for packaging products safely and presenting them in a customer-friendly manner. Purchase costs and space requirements of these side-loading machines can be significantly lower than those of conventional top-loader applications with vertical feeding systems.
Secure packaging of pens, auto-injectors, vials and more
A central part of the side-loading are the so-called inlays. These are cardboard inserts which are filled with the products to be packaged outside the folding box and then inserted into it. They prevent the products in the carton from touching each other and thus contribute to a high level of product protection - a clear advantage especially for high-priced and sensitive products such as pens, auto-injectors and vials.
In practice, two types of inlays have proven themselves, both can be flexibly processed on Harro Höfliger machine platforms:
- Pre-glued inlays are fed and erected in the machine. This is done with a simple setup, which allows a rapid format change. Time-consuming gluing processes and folding procedures are eliminated
- It is also possible to use unglued inlays, which are glued with a base card after erection; this saves costs in inlay production
With both variants, the products are grouped and inserted into the inlay together with the brochure, before it is pushed sideways into the opened folding box. The flaps are then folded and glued with hot melt. The process is completed by printing the folding box with variable data and a print verification.
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The pre-glued inlays are erected in-line
Feeding and erecting pre-glued inlays.
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Vials are inserted into the inlay
Insertion of vials by pick & place.
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Inserting filled inlays
The filled inlays are inserted laterally into the carton.
Sustainable, plastic-free packaging
The lower power consumption reduces energy costs long term and protects natural resources. Plus, with cardboard inlays blisters or plastic trays can be dispensed with during packaging. These factors make side-loading a very sustainable packaging process. The flexibility of the MKT and MKC platforms also contributes to saving resources: Depending on requirements, both side-loading/top-opening cartons and conventional folding cartons can be processed on the same machine platforms. Simple format changes increase flexibility and ensure that each machine can be used for different tasks. On top of that, the low space requirement of the system allows for optimum use of space in production.