Introduction
At a Glance
Cartoner cost is based on many factors including cartoner type, infeed manipulations, product containment, wash down capabilities, testing, and customizable add-ons. These make up, and add on to, the four tiers of cartoner pricing:
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Baseline
- Primarily pneumatic and intermittent. The machine’s main role is to move product between manual stations.
- Specs: $150,000 – $175,000; ~25 CPM (Cases per Minute)
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Mid-Level
- Still pneumatic and intermittent in function, but with the addition of automated collation for product patterns.
- Specs: $350,000 – $500,000; ~55 CPM
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High-Level
- Standard continuous-motion system, with loading, packing, and collating done through automation.
- Specs: $500,000+; ~125 CPM
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Extremely Customized
- Highly customized, continuous-motion system. Contains all the features of a standard continuous machine, but with specific design to suit customer product lines, and with chosen add-ons.
- Specs: $750,000 – $1,000,000+; up to 350 CPM
These tiers are checkpoints on a journey of growth with your operation. Cartoners exist to meet the needs of your operation.
You’re considering the purchase of a cartoner. Perhaps you already have an automated cartoner system, or perhaps you don’t, and loading, collating, and packing are all done manually in your operation.
Regardless of where you’re at, one of the first steps you’ll want to take is to understand the pricing behind a cartoner quote. The more you know about what goes into cartoner pricing, the better equipped you will be to make educated decisions, and have the right conversations throughout your buying process.
In this article, we’ll cover:
- A summary of cartoner types and functions
- Four tiers of cartoner pricing and what they include
- Cost drivers, including common add-ons and retrofitting
- Factors that impact and lengthen engineering time
Cartoner Basics: Types and Functions
Cartons are usually made of paperboard, and are printed with a retail-ready design to promote brand identity and product awareness. Cartons are commonly seen on the shelves of grocery stores, holding canned beverages, and single-serve products like granola bars or chip bags.
Cartoners, then, are the machines built to process these customer-facing, printed products, and load them with your goods – whether delicate bagged goods, or sturdy, rigid bottles. They come in two primary types: intermittent-motion (IM) or continuous-motion (CM). These titles refer to how the machine moves: whether stopping and starting intermittently, or moving in one continuous motion.
What Is the Budgetary Price of a Cartoner?
The two different types of cartoners, IM and CM, naturally suit different operations and offer different costs and feature benefits. Since IM works well alongside manual labor, it offers a lower purchase price, while CM requires more components to handle and pack cartons, so it tends to be more expensive.
Here are four tiers of cartoner pricing, slotted based on function, price, and throughput:
1
Baseline Cartoner
The simplest sort of cartoner you can find is an IM system that is almost entirely pneumatic – primarily powered by compressed air components. It relies on hand loading, hand metering, and hand collation of product, so the main automated function is carton setup.
- Maximum Throughput: ~25 cases per minute (CPM)
- Average Cost Range: $150,000 – $175,000
- Typical Operation: Those new to automation, looking to speed up manual processes.
2
Mid-Level Cartoner
A mid-level cartoner would still be IM and primarily pneumatic in function, but with the addition of automated collation or enhancements from manual processes.
- Maximum Throughput: ~55 CPM
- Average Cost Range: $350,000 – $500,000
- Typical Operation: Developing operations, working to transition out of manual labor.
3
High-Level Cartoner
Adding servo drives, a high-level cartoner moves into the CM range. It has automated collation and metering for product patterns, and it automatically loads product. This means the machine does almost all of the product packaging.
- Maximum Throughput: ~125 CPM
- Average Cost Range: $500,000+ (depending on complexity)
- Typical Operation: Mid-sized to large operations, looking to fully automate.
4
Extremely Customized Cartoners
The highest tier of cartoners are highly customized systems. These are CM machines, with full automation designed specifically for the customer’s products. Oftentimes those who purchase cartoners in this tier also add functionality to speed up quality control or operational processes.
- Maximum Throughput: up to 350 CPM
- Average Cost Range: $750,000 – $1,000,000+
- Typical Operation: Large operations, usually with multiple product lines and/or difficult-to-package products (like tippy or heavy goods).
Where does Douglas fall on this list?
Douglas specializes in customized secondary packaging solutions, in either IM or CM systems. Our engineers design machines to match the exact SKU-mix of customers and oftentimes implement design add-ons to meet desired functionality.
To learn more about Douglas’ Cartoners, take a look at our Vectra® and Vantra® solutions.
Factors that Impact Cost
Cost increases occur when you specify unique add-ons or functions for your machine. This is typically done when operations want custom solutions or when they have fragile or unstable, outlier products.
Here are some common factors that have great impacts on cost:
- Speed or Stability Manipulations – Bending and rotating product, especially if there are multiple orientations to make.
- Product Handling and Containment – Dealing with tippy or tapered products, anything that needs to be held in place by the machine.
- Wash Down Capabilities – Specialized materials and design to accommodate routine wash downs and sanitations (usually applicable to CPG, Dairy, and some beverage applications).
- Packing Orientation – Cartoners typically pack from the side or the end, pushing product into the carton. A product that is especially fragile, or has specific presentation needs, may see cost increases in this area.
- Scope of Testing – Depending on how much testing a buyer wants to do with their product and on their machine, before order completion.
Beyond typical pricing factors, there are certain features that many of our Douglas customers like to add to their machines. Here are some of the most common:
- Auto Adjusting (~$50,000)
How much of the changeover process the machine completes automatically, through programming. This feature is helpful for repeatability and accuracy in changeover, which can lend itself to improved changeover time.
Note: Even with auto adjusting features, there will still be some manual processes to changeover. Douglas’ auto adjust solution can achieve changeovers that are just over 50% auto-adjusted – the rest would be completed manually. -
Carton Rejection & Handling (~$35,000 for pneumatic, ~$50,000 for servo)
This refers to machine-operated quality control and adjustment. The machine can dispose of mis-erected or problematic cases, increasing your machine uptime:- High-Speed Reject Solution – $100,000
- High-Speed Reject/Lane Dividing Solution – $150,000
- High-Speed Reject/Turning/Lane Dividing Solution – $300,000
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Coding (~$50,000 for purchase, ~$15,000 for integration)
Coding varies in scope and function, but refers to an add-on that manages codes, barcodes, and dates on cartons.
Douglas can fully integrate coding functions into your system. Customers of other vendors sometimes outsource third-party companies to buy add-ons and put them onto their machines (without full integration).
Other customized add-ons that tend to drive price:
- Load Cameras – Scan products for quality control errors.
- Electrical Options – Varies in scope and function, but requires additional programming to be built into your programmable logic controller (PLC).
- Literature Inserters – Insert marketing materials or literature into the carton with your product.
Oversights that Affect Reliability and TCO
Without proper planning, buyers forget to address key factors with their vendors before installation. This leads to retrofitted components that cost significantly more post-installation, than if they’re addressed early in the buying process.
Factors that are commonly overlooked (graphic orientation, infeed consistency, etc.) typically center on one main issue: not having a scope in mind for the next 3-5 years.
- Will you be adding new SKUs? Changing current ones?
- Will your throughput stay roughly the same? Will it increase?
- How are you anticipating labor to look? Will there be retirements or turnover?
Any SKUs that vary too much from what you outline with your vendor, will require a new set of change parts to accommodate. Change parts can get expensive, and they make for more complex and lengthier changeovers. In some cases, oversights can even lead to premature machine upgrades.
Pro Tip
Keep an eye on how large your scope gets. One of our Principal Engineers, Andy B., explains: “A machine that can do everything, typically doesn’t do anything well.” In some cases, purchasing multiple machines to accommodate different aspects of your scope, may be more valuable than trying to fit it all on one.
Factors that Increase Lead Time
Similar to cost factors, lead-time factors relate to the depth and scope of your customizations. Lead time is made up of designing, building, and validating (e.g. internal testing, customer FAT, etc.) your machine – these factors prepare your machine for production, and allow for quicker startup in the field. Sometimes a longer lead time is not a bad thing, but you likely want to have an idea for its scope.
Here are some of the major factors that increase this time:
- Manipulations – Components that help speed up or stabilize processes; orientating, turning, or changing product infeed.
- Additional Features – Options chosen to add automation beyond the standard package.
- Additional Stations or Stretched Space – Anything that will lengthen conveyor or tube needs to be designed to meet your floorspace needs.
- Tray Capability – Sometimes cartoners are also suited to pack product in trays (e.g. Douglas Vantra IM). Adding on this tray capability is possible and common, but adds time to engineering and design efforts.
- Tuck Tabs vs. Glue Closures – Tuck tabs are folded into the flaps to close cartons, while glue closures rely on glue/adhesive sealing rather than folding methods. The effect closure methods have on your lead time can vary by vendor.
- Number of Tested Sizes – The more SKUs/sizes you want to test on your machine, the longer it will take to test them (~1 week per size).
In general, any customizations that are especially unique must be specially designed, and that is not only design time, but also build time. It’s good to address these needs early on in vendor conversations.
Customization that Mirrors Growth
Cartoner pricing is a spectrum. The tiers we’ve listed above are intended to be helpful checkpoints for mental reference, not a strict, pocketed system. Your cartoner should grow with your operation and be customized to meet your specific needs.
Cartoners provide great opportunity to increase throughput and productivity, but they also vary greatly in customization options and budgetary depth. Understand your operation, have conversations with your vendor early, and then scale with your growth.
Looking for Cartoner Options?
Schedule a discovery call today. Speak with one of our specialists to learn more about what Douglas offers, and evaluate what cartoner is right for your budget and operation.
