When your packaging operation has too many variables for standard equipment — multiple box sizes, high daily throughput, limited floor space — Machine Concepts engineers a solution built around your line.
We design, build and integrate complete automated packaging and material handling systems for manufacturers in the appliance, automotive, food and consumer goods industries.
Tell us about your application, and let’s figure out what’s possible.
Our team works directly with your team to design, build and integrate automated packaging systems tailored to your specific requirements, whether you're packaging food products, appliances, industrial components or other manufactured goods.
Box Erecting and Forming: Including custom box erector designs for non-standard geometries, multiple size variations and high-volume throughput requirements. When a standard box erector isn't enough, we engineer one that is.
Product Placement and Packing: Vision-guided robotic placement delivers accurate, repeatable positioning, even across product variations or multiple SKUs running on the same line.
Box Throwing and Case Loading: High-speed robotic case loading designed for continuous production environments where manual loading creates a throughput bottleneck.
Labeling and Banding: Integrated labeling, barcode scanning and banding built directly into the packaging sequence.
Case Sealing and Taping: Automated downstream case sealing that produces clean, shipment-ready units every cycle.
End-of-Line Palletizing: Robotic palletizing integrated into the end-of-line sequence to build stable, ready-to-ship unit loads.
Part Tracking and Barcode Readers: Full traceability built into the line architecture, so every unit is confirmed, tracked and handed off with a complete data record.
Customer Success Story
Reducing Labor Costs with a Robotic Boxing & Packaging Line [VIDEO]
Robotic Systems: We integrate Fanuc, ABB, Yaskawa and KUKA robots. Payload, reach, cycle time target and the specific mechanics of the packaging task drive robot selection.
Vision Systems: 2D and 3D vision systems enable our robots to locate, orient and confirm parts accurately, even when product presentation is inconsistent, SKUs are mixed or product geometry varies run to run. Vision confirmation at key handoff points eliminates downstream errors before they happen.
Control Systems: We program Allen-Bradley, Mitsubishi and Siemens PLCs to match your facility standards and your maintenance team's capabilities. The goal is a system your people can operate and maintain.
Custom End-of-Arm Tooling and Material Handling: Standard robotic tooling fails when the product is unusual — heavy, irregularly shaped, uneven or presenting gaps in the gripping surface. We design custom end-of-arm tooling for exactly these situations.
Custom Conveyance and Line Tracking: Conveyor design, part routing, barcode integration and production tracking are specified as part of the system architecture from the start. Every unit moving through a Machine Concepts packaging line is tracked, confirmed and passed to the next step with full traceability intact.
A major appliance manufacturer was manually boxing large appliances with a team of six — selecting from four box sizes, folding, placing, labeling and strapping each unit by hand. Even at their best: 30 seconds per unit. The physical toll was real, and the labor cost was unsustainable.
Machine Concepts engineered a fully integrated robotic boxing and packaging line built around the manufacturer's unit mix, floor layout and throughput target.
Results
The line begins with a 7-axis robot that scans each appliance to confirm the correct box size before anything moves. A second robot arm with a stationary suction mechanism opens the box. Crowding cylinders and scanners position each appliance precisely. The appliance ships on the same tray it was manufactured on, eliminating a handling step entirely. Custom conveyor, labeling and line tracking close the loop.
The results? The line went from six workers to two. The cycle time per unit went from 30 seconds to 22 seconds. More than 3,000 units are now processed per day.
Appliance Manufacturing: Large appliance packaging is physically demanding, labor-intensive and highly variable. Machine Concepts engineers robotic boxing and packaging lines to handle multiple box sizes, high daily throughput targets and the ergonomic challenges of moving large, heavy products through a complete packaging sequence.
Automotive — Tier 1 and Tier 2 Suppliers: Automotive packaging demands precision, part traceability and the ability to run production variants without stopping the line. We've built automated packaging systems for Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers that integrate directly with stamping and assembly operations — to the controls standards and cycle time requirements those environments demand.
Food and Consumer Goods: High-mix, high-volume packaging in the food and consumer goods space often requires the ability to switch between SKUs without extended changeover downtime. Machine Concepts engineers flexible packaging systems that handle product variation without sacrificing throughput or requiring a full line restart between runs.
Industrial Components: Our engineering team designs custom material handling and packaging solutions for industrial components where the geometry, the weight or the surface characteristics require more than a standard off-the-shelf approach.
Automated packaging lines increase throughput, reduce labor costs, and improve workplace safety. Vision-guided robots and flexible tooling handle product variations while running continuously with faster cycle times than manual operations.
Key benefits:
- Increase throughput and eliminate packaging bottlenecks
- Reduce labor costs and redeploy your workforce to higher-value activities
- Improve workplace safety by removing repetitive lifting and ergonomic strain
Why Machine Concepts for Robotic Packaging?
Our engineering expertise spans robotics, vision systems, material handling, and custom process equipment, and we handle everything from concept through commissioning. When you have different box sizes, high volume, complicated processes, or lots of variations, we'll engineer a reliable and cost-effective solution. Our job is to see you succeed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Multi-SKU and variable box size handling is one of the more common problems we're brought in to solve. Our typical approach uses barcode or code scanning at the start of the packaging sequence to identify the product and confirm the correct packaging before any placement occurs — eliminating mis-picks without slowing the line.
We integrate Fanuc, ABB, Yaskawa and KUKA robots. Selection is driven by the application — payload capacity, reach envelope, cycle time requirement and your facility's preferred platform.
Yes. Most of the systems we build are designed to connect to existing upstream or downstream processes. Control system integration, conveyor interfaces, PLC compatibility and production tracking tie-ins are all part of the engineering scope.
The drivers are typically consistent: reduced direct labor costs, higher throughput, lower injury and turnover rates and improved product consistency run to run. We can walk through a cost-benefit analysis with you during the quoting process.
That's exactly the type of project we’re built for. Machine Concepts focuses on the tough applications. If what you need hasn't been built before, we start from a blank sheet and engineer it.
We'd be happy to answer your questions or start a quote.
