For many bespoke kitchen and furniture manufacturers, cabinet production has become increasingly efficient and automated. Yet one area often still outsourced – or handled inefficiently – is packaging.
Many manufacturers continue to purchase pre-made cartons in multiple sizes or rely on external suppliers for packaging solutions. While this may seem convenient, it often leads to high storage requirements, wasted materials and unnecessary costs. The solution, according to HOMAG, is simple: bring packaging production in-house.
With the PAQTEQ C-250, manufacturers can produce precise, made-to-measure packaging directly within their own facilities, exactly when they need it.
A smarter approach to packaging
At its core, the PAQTEQ C-250 is a fully automated cardboard box cutting machine capable of cutting, scoring and perforating corrugated board in a single process. The system creates customised packaging solutions automatically and just-in-time, allowing manufacturers to produce exactly the box required for each individual product, even in batch size one production.
This flexibility is particularly valuable for kitchen manufacturers producing cabinets in a wide variety of dimensions. As Heinz-Peter Tillmann of premium kitchen manufacturer SieMatic highlights:
“Today, we package 98% of all carcase types according to the PAQTEQ concept, despite batch size one production. The surfaces and edges of these carcasses are now better protected against impacts.”
With the C-250, companies can match packaging precisely to the product, thereby improving product protection while reducing the need for additional filling materials.
From 70 box sizes to just a few
Traditional packaging systems often require manufacturers to stock a huge range of carton sizes in advance. Thomas Sparrer of Conzella explains the challenge: “Before we had the machine, we kept about 70 different carton sizes in our warehouse. Of those 70 sizes, 60 mostly didn’t fit and were difficult to manage. Now we use corrugated board to produce exactly the carton we need.”
The PAQTEQ C-250 can easily produce cartons on demand, allowing companies to move away from bulky inventories and simplify logistics. Instead of managing dozens of different boxes, manufacturers can work from a small selection of corrugated board widths while producing perfectly sized packaging every time.
Significant cost savings
Bringing packaging production in-house can also deliver major financial benefits. With made-to-measure cartons, manufacturers reduce waste and avoid paying for oversized boxes or unnecessary filler materials. As Thomas
Sparrer confirms: “The carton cutting machine has the advantage for us that we can produce small quantities particularly inexpensively. Compared to the previous purchase costs, we save up to 50%.”
Storage savings are equally significant. Instead of dedicating valuable floor space to storing multiple carton sizes, manufacturers only need a small number of corrugated board widths. As Heinz- Peter Tillmann explains: “We used to need half a floor just to stock the different packaging sizes required for our cabinets. The PAQTEQ C-250 has allowed us to reclaim that space.”
Designed for flexibility and efficiency
The PAQTEQ C-250 has been developed to integrate seamlessly into modern production environments. Its intelligent machine control system, intelliCut, continuously monitors performance and automatically recalibrates to maintain cutting accuracy.
The machine can process cardboard from multiple web widths and automatically selects the most efficient format for each packaging design, reducing waste and improving material utilisation.
Manufacturers also benefit from access to hundreds of packaging designs that can be called up directly via the machine and adapted to specific product dimensions with just a few entries.
The result is a highly flexible packaging solution capable of responding instantly to new product requirements.
Supporting sustainable manufacturing
Customised packaging also plays a significant role in reducing environmental impact. The PAQTEQ C-250 uses 35% less volume and 25% less cardboard, which equates to 9,900,000 fewer trees having to be felled each year.
Corrugated board – a renewable and easily recyclable material – combines low material input, low weight, good machinability, high stability, and effective product protection to provide a truly sustainable system.
Using these materials with this technology, businesses can expect significant reductions in waste, as Heinz-Peter Tillmann attests: “The result of the collaboration with HOMAG was the side-by-side solution, which allows us to use not just six different cardboard boxes as the base material for our packaging, but 12. This, therefore, results in a significantly lower offcut quantity. The savings are in the range of 12-15 %.”
A smarter way forward for manufacturers
For furniture and kitchen manufacturers looking to improve efficiency across the entire production chain, packaging is increasingly becoming an area of opportunity.
The PAQTEQ C-250 is a solution that is helping manufacturers simplify logistics, reduce storage requirements, cut packaging costs, and deliver better protection for their products, all from the comfort of their own facility.
For more information or a demonstration of the PAQTEQ C-250, contact HOMAG UK on 01332 856500, option 4 for the sales department, or email [email protected].
