Learning Center

Whether you’re looking for solutions to specific challenges or wanting to deepen your overall knowledge of secondary packaging, our Learning Center is designed to give you the resources to make confident decisions about your secondary packaging systems.

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Cost & Price

What Actually Drives Secondary Packaging TCO (Ranked by Impact)

Learn where total cost of ownership is actually created—so you know where to spend time, where to push vendors, and where cutting corners will cost you later.

Return on Investment (ROI) Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Light column that indicates status of machine

Problems / Challenges

Why CPG Secondary Packaging Projects Underperform: 20 Fixable Gaps

Walk through 20 of the most common and costly equipment gaps in secondary packaging—and how to mitigate them early.

Delays Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Bags of pet food being loaded into a case

How-To, Problems / Challenges

High-SKU Pet Food Operations: How to Cut Changeover Time in Case Packing and Palletizing

Break down what’s really happening in your end-of-line operations and build a plant-floor playbook that separates what’s process, what’s equipment, and what’s design.

Changeover Pet Food

How-To, Secondary Packaging 101

A Buyer’s Guide to Automating Frozen Pizza Packaging Lines

Walk through the most important factors to consider when automating frozen pizza packaging—so you can make a confident, future-proof decision.

Frozen Food Pizza

How-To, Secondary Packaging 101

How to Automate Variety Pack Production Without Overbuilding or Overpaying

Learn which type of automation is right for your production scale, space, and SKU needs—whether you’re packing beverages or assembling snack assortments.

Variety Pack

People talking in front of top load case packer

Cost & Price

How Much Does a Top Load Case Packer Cost? Budgetary Pricing & Key Factors That Impact Price

Learn the budgetary price ranges you can expect, along with the specific factors that drive those prices.

Case Packing

Douglas Service Technician working on machine

Problems / Challenges

How Quickly Can I Get a Service Technician to My Site?

Get realistic timelines for emergency and planned service, plus practical steps that can reduce delays by days.

Delays Field Service

Comparisons

Managing Replacement Parts for OEM Equipment: Choosing the Right Partner Model

Break down the real-world pros, cons, and risks of sourcing parts from OEMs, distributors, or directly from component manufacturers.

Aftermarket Replacement Parts

Comparisons

U.S.-Made vs. Imported OEM Packaging Equipment: Which Is Actually Better in the Long Run?

Get a side-by-side breakdown of what makes one operation more cost-effective than the other—in terms that refelct the realities of manufacturing operations.

Imported Made in the USA

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How-To

How to Read and Respond to Common K6000 Faults

Kinetix 6000 (K6000) fault codes can often be remedied with the right know-how. We’ll help you understand how to read power-ups, status lights, and fault codes, to get to the root cause of drive issues.

Fault codes Faults K6000 Kinetix Servo Drive

Kinetix 6000 part with "discontinued" banner on top

Problems / Challenges

How Do I Navigate K6000 Obsolescence?

Allen-Bradley moved the Kinetix 6000 (K6000) servo drive to obsolete status, which means no new units and a used-only supply. We can help you navigate this change and offer options on how to proceed.

Aftermarket Obsolescence Risks Servo Drive

Hand holding a security padlock next to the eight listed steps of lockout tagout

How-To

What is the Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) Requirement for Packaging Equipment?

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) is a federal safety requirement that makes sure machines are de-energized before maintenance. We’ll walk you through the eight-step procedure, explain your role, and show how it applies to the equipment you work with.

Federal Safety Requirement Hazardous Energy Lockout LOTO OSHA Safety Tagout

Split image showing before and after of machine refurbishment

Comparisons

What Is Equipment Refurbishment and When Is It Better Than Replacement?

Learn the 50% rule and a five-question framework to help you distinguish when refurbishment and when replacement makes the most economic and operational sense.

Machinery Lifecycle Obsolescence Refurbishment Repair

OEE = availability x performance x quality

Secondary Packaging 101

The Three Components of OEE: Availability, Performance, Quality (and the Six Big Losses)

Understand the three independent components of OEE and learn how to identify which one is dragging your OEE down.

Diagnostics Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Productivity

Productivity comparison graphs of non-vertical startup and vertical startup

Secondary Packaging 101

Vertical Startup: Why It Matters

Vertical startup is the achievement of stable throughput and quality within days of going live, not just the installation event. Understand the difference and how you can plan for this success.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Productivity Return on Investment (ROI) Startup Vertical Startup

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HORIZONTAL LOAD

TOP LOAD

SHRINK WRAPPERS

SHRINK PACKERS

MULTIWRAPPERS

CARTONERS

SLEEVERS

MULTIPACKERS

Learning Center

Whether you’re looking for solutions to specific challenges or wanting to deepen your overall knowledge of secondary packaging, our Learning Center is designed to give you the resources to make confident decisions about your secondary packaging systems.

Filter by Category

Filter by Topic

Filter by Type

What Actually Drives Secondary Packaging TCO (Ranked by Impact)

Why CPG Secondary Packaging Projects Underperform: 20 Fixable Gaps

High-SKU Pet Food Operations: How to Cut Changeover Time in Case Packing and Palletizing

A Buyer’s Guide to Automating Frozen Pizza Packaging Lines

How to Automate Variety Pack Production Without Overbuilding or Overpaying

How Much Does a Top Load Case Packer Cost? Budgetary Pricing & Key Factors That Impact Price

How Quickly Can I Get a Service Technician to My Site?

Managing Replacement Parts for OEM Equipment: Choosing the Right Partner Model

U.S.-Made vs. Imported OEM Packaging Equipment: Which Is Actually Better in the Long Run?

How to Read and Respond to Common K6000 Faults

How Do I Navigate K6000 Obsolescence?

What is the Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) Requirement for Packaging Equipment?

What Is Equipment Refurbishment and When Is It Better Than Replacement?

The Three Components of OEE: Availability, Performance, Quality (and the Six Big Losses)

Vertical Startup: Why It Matters

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