From increased productivity, efficiency and a strong return-on-investment, the decision to automate your case forming processes is always the right choice. However, what can trip up some people is selecting a case former based solely on the here-and-now.
Instead of pairing the case former to address your current immediate needs, i.e., case sizes, targeted speed etc., you’ll have better results if your case former has the flexibility to adapt to changing applications down the road.
Your business, along with the market place as a whole is always changing, constantly evolving, and your case forming equipment needs to be able to change right along with it. For example, you want to make sure your equipment can accommodate a reasonable size change in cases and size range of the machine, as well as changes to your current case-per-minute rate. These factors, to name a few, should be considered as you evaluate where your business could be in the coming years. It behooves you to select a case former that can grow with you and give you the added capacity when needed.
Another area that deserves your attention when selecting your next case former is ease of changeover. For some machines, changeovers can take about 10 minutes to get dialed in and completed. If you end up doing five or six changeovers in a day, that’s an hour of lost production time. While a machine’s case-per-minute rate is important, what’s as critical, if not more, is selecting a machine that offers predictability and repeatability in your changeover. In the long run, those two factors relating to changeover will save you a substantial amount of time and money.
To achieve the best results in your next case former, think long term of where your business can go, and compare the one-time cost of the machine versus the long-term value of machine. When adding increased productivity in changeovers, as well as possessing the flexibility to accommodate different applications, you’ll see greater return-on-investment in the long run with a case former that’s better suited to your needs.