• High speed case setup – Pre-load setup allows the case or tray to support the product while loading.
• Douglas’ ARC loader – With fewer parts and its overhead design, the ARC loader offers better access and faster changeover than a barrel cam design.  Also, product can be contained on all four sides while being loaded.
• Flap folding and compression, from the sides of the machine, results in more accurate glue application and more consistent glue compression than systems with cammed chain flights.

A variety of advanced infeed solutions are offered to optimize performance for specific product types while maintaining gentle product handling to ensure highest package integrity. Some commonly used systems include:

Servo Lane Mergers and Dividers – Perfect for applications where any shape or sized product cannot be flood or mass fed. A fixed number of products are smoothly fed to metering systems, where balanced product lanes are required.

Recirculating Conveyors – A complete recirculating loop system that controls product population, reduces line pressure as products are distributed into lanes.

Slipstream™ HS / Slipstream™ SS – pinless metering using slip sheet methodology and servo technology to gently meter bottled, cartoned, canned and other products in appropriate pack-patterns without the use of tampers or escapement pins. Remarkable stability control allows for faster handling than traditional metering methods. Tool free changeovers and the intuitive HMI control panel also increase productivity. The appropriate technology is determined based on speeds and your product. Slipstream SS offers more stability as product moves faster, especially with unstable product or odd size/shaped packaging

Smartrak II – Mass flow infeed design eliminates soft bottle bridging and removes gaps to ensure pack-pattern accuracy and continuous product flow. Distinguishing features include modulated speed control programming for surge pressure relief at the choke point, single solid adjustment cross-members, tool less clamps and pinned lane guide adjustment positions for stable operation and quick, accurate changeovers. By eliminating many mechanical changeover adjustments and replacing them with a one clamp design, changeovers are seamless and fast.