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Since manufacturers need to keep up with production demands, many turn to automation for a solution. A Douglas case packer is a great solution to automation as it may provide more throughput while maintaining flexibility by providing shelf ready packages. It’s important to know what your long-term goals are for automation and product flexibility.

With a large range of products offered for case packers at Douglas, it is important to understand what products you want to run through the case packer and what rates of speed so we can provide the right machine for you. Case designs will also influence what case packer is best suited for the job.

Trays, Half Slotted Containers (HSC), Harness, and Knock Down (KD) cases are all styles of cases that require different levels of flexibility in a case packer. With over 50 years of experience in case packing, Douglas will help you through this process and guide you to a solution that’s best for you.

What Is a Case Packer Machine?

A case packer machine is an automated machine that sets up a tray or wrap around case and loads product from the side, top or bottom. After the product is loaded, the case is closed and sealed by glue or tape.

Benefits of Case Packer Machines

Douglas case packers provide a large size range for various speed rates. This capability can allow increased throughput either at the time of purchase or down the road if there are future needs for it. Case packers are built to withstand different environments by offering different levels of wash down options.

With the flexibility of a large range of case designs, case packers are set up to run multiple designs in the same machine, including shelf ready and display cases.

Horizontal Load Case Packers

Douglas offers several different horizontal load case packers that include our Axiom® IM, Invex® IM, (New) CpONE, Axiom DL, and Axiom ARC models. Each model has different features that are focused on the needs of our customers.

The Axiom IM, Invex IM, and CpONE models are intermittent motion machines while the Axiom DL and Axiom ARC are continuous motion. The continuous motion models are faster machines while the intermittent motion models are smaller footprint and allow for more options to configure the product.

Top Load Case Packers

Top load case packers are a great solution for pouch and bottled products. Both the TriVex® RL and TriVex SL are capable of providing vertical pack and flat pack solutions for pouch products.

The RL model is also capable of unloading product from trays commonly used to make variety packs in the beverage market. The RL and SL models allow for an erector and sealer to be added on to provide an all-in-one solution.

Bottom Load Case Packers

Often times in case packing, the product orientation is important and in some cases you need to be careful in how the product is handled. The AscendTM platform allows us to load product from the bottom of a case, ensuring minimal steps in the product orientation process and giving us the option for both glue and tape sealing.

The Ascend is a bottom loader with a compact footprint. This platform allows us to add a larger variety of infeeds that can handle cartons, trays, tubs, cups, cans, bottles and heavier product.

Case Packers from Douglas Machine

With a large portfolio of case packer models, we believe we have a solution for almost any product you might have. Providing horizontal, top load, and bottom load case packers gives us the ability to handle so many different product configurations and throughput demands.

With over 50 years of experience, great service, and a strong support network, we are confident we will be able to provide solutions for your secondary packaging needs.

Be sure to contact us for more information on case packers and the value they can bring to your business. We’d love to help.

The packaging industry is an extremely complex piece of machinery in itself, even apart from the actual individual machines by which it operates. It encompasses large regions of human experience—ranging from engineering and logistics to networking—with a strong dedication to meeting the needs and wants of the consumer. Likes, dislikes and urgent needs vary on a daily basis—certainly with the seasons in a region such as Alexandria, Minnesota! But such a constant flux demands a tight connection of unbroken links from the consumer: marketing, package design and the technical design teams. Meaningful products are best produced by efforts which synchronize all the necessary talents with the actual needs of the consumer.

Seeking Clarity & Vision Through Animation

Effective communication is a critical pillar of everyday human interaction, and the packaging industry is no exception. Communication through speech is the most immediate way that we can share our ideas and vision—and consequently agree upon the appropriate means to achieve that end. In every one of our efforts to understand each other, the assistance of the imagination ends up being an essential part of the equation. Everyone has experienced the frustration of attempting to learn new concepts without the help of good diagrams, or perhaps without any diagrams at all. The power contained in a simple visual is aptly captured in the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Such a picture is made even clearer when someone explains it further with additional gestures. Yet the most powerful means of quickly conveying information should combine the thousands of words and thousands of pictures into one comprehensive vision. This is the power of animation. An animation presents information in a form which corresponds to everyday experience; we look at the world and see everything in terms of motion and rest. No one comes to know birds and trees by first looking at a page of writing. You first know by experience through the fluid motion of the world. This is the very form by which animations present highly technical information in such a natural manner that it is quickly and clearly understood by the viewer.

Animation Drives Better Business Communication

By means of animations we can facilitate communication through visualization—which aligns the imagination of every individual associated with any given project. This synchronized vision provides a common starting point for further design development, critical decisions, building of confidence in a concept, as well as confirming potential concerns. Yet there remains an intangible aspect, which cannot be quantified, wherein the animation sparks excitement that drives projects forward! All this happens in the space of a few minutes necessary to view a single animation, which would have taken pages and pages of writing to communicate and can sometimes create confusion. At Douglas, we leverage animations in a number of avenues in an effort to maximize the quality and efficiency of production with minimal development costs. Numerous iterations and variations of new concepts can be evaluated with a fraction of the investment, which in turn serves to refine the project vision much more quickly. Additionally, finalized projects can be captured most comprehensively with an overall animation which exposes regions of a packaging machine that would be extremely difficult (or even impossible) to view in the real world. Concept and final animations present the opposite ends of the animation spectrum, but Douglas Machine employs the power of animation for everything in between. Whenever individuals begin talking with their hands, it is a sure sign that animations can provide valuable assistance for everyone involved in that stage of the design process!

How Animation Evolves at Douglas

New developments often allow us to produce animations more quickly and accurately while always striving to encompass the most pertinent information. Everything is evaluated with an eye toward improving the decision-making process. Thus, the production of animations at Douglas brings together a unique blend of talents within the company—including engineering, design and art. Each animation must convey the thoughts of a technical design to individuals who are not familiar with the finer details in a manner that is uncluttered and clear, while still being aesthetically pleasing such that it aligns with the needs of the appropriate audience. The fine balance of technical accuracy, simplified visuals and eye-catching visuals, done well, forms a packet of information which is accurate and quickly comprehensible. Combining all these elements can ignite the energy, excitement and talent necessary to take solutions from a simple concept to fruition. That is the power of a picture in motion—solutions brought to life.

Animate Your Enterprise With Douglas

Ready to learn more about how animation can impact and improve your business? Then be sure to reach out to Douglas today. We would be more than happy to shed light on how you can leverage this technology to maximize clarity, efficiency and safety for your team.

Craft beer is making huge waves in the beverage industry. Craft breweries showed tremendous growth in market share, volume and jobs created over the course of 2017—and this trend is poised to continue throughout the rest of 2018, too. Craft beers mark a welcome departure from a long-homogenized market, empowering consumers to enjoy more flavors and styles than ever before. But to create impact in such a fiercely competitive industry, U.S. craft brewers need quality secondary packaging that’s versatile and cost efficient. And that’s where we come in.

At Douglas Machine, we lead the way in secondary packaging solutions. Our team produces a range of machines for today’s Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers—including case and tray packers, shrink wrap systems and cartoners. We’re particularly passionate about working with breweries, so you can imagine how thrilled we were when Summit Brewing Co. chose one of our cartoners for their canned craft beers. Today, we’ll be walking you through how our Vantra IM cartoner machine helps Summit Brewing Co. maximize efficiency and create better drinking experiences for customers.

The Rise of Summit’s Canned Craft Beer

For over three decades, Summit Brewing Co. has been making unique craft beers that perfectly balance hops, malts, yeast and water. From earthy pale ales and chocolatey porters to tropical IPAs, Summit offers a huge selection of brews for true beer lovers. To meet rising demands for their canned craft beer, Summit turned to Douglas Machine to add a new high-performance cartoner to their brewery. Enter the Vantra™ IM—our compact, economical motion cartoner packaging machine for cartons and trays.

The Vantra™ IM cartoner is the perfect packaging solution for canned beverages. Designed with flexibility and efficiency in mind, the Vantra IM can set up, load and close trays or cartons at speeds of up to 55 units per minute within a single platform. This versatile cartoner machine can also be integrated with a breadth of infeed options to handle bottles, cans, cartons, bags and more—including applications demanding several manipulations.

The Vantra IM features a hygienic sheet metal frame and standoff bearing mounts to match specific wash down requirements—and an ergonomic, walk-in design to maximize operator safety and accessibility. Best of all, the machine can accommodate a variety of pack patterns and size ranges for food, beverage, personal care or pharmaceutical products. From standard trays and cans to RSC-flap style cartons, the Vantra IM cartoner brings the power and flexibility to suit nearly any CPG brand.

Other advantages of the Vantra IM include the following:

• Various infeed styles for application and product handling flexibility
• Glue seal for FOL, POL and RSC-flap cartons
• Tuck closure for standard or reverse-style cartons
• Carton and tray capability on a single platform

The Vantra™ IM Drives Results for Summit Brewing Co.

The versatility of the Vantra IM makes it a natural solution for Summit Brewing Co. Its fast, repeatable changeover feature includes a range of enhancements that collectively reduce changeover time to less than five minutes. The IM’s rail positions are recipe-driven and locked in place to within +/- 1/32, ensuring repeatability and consistency. Best of all, the machine’s robust infeed rails can easily withstand high product pressure, and its ergonomics minimize manual adjustments—fostering greater efficiency and safety.

Summit chose the Vantra IM specifically because of its expandable size range. This innovative cartoner packaging machine expands the brewery’s offerings to include 12, 24 and 30 pack carton capability—at speeds of up to 50 cartons per minute. The IM’s mass flow infeed and laning make packaging large quantities of Summit cans effortless. Its surge release and high-speed loading capabilities foster greater workflow efficiency, too. Thanks in part to their new Vantra IM cartoner, Summit is connecting even more beer lovers with canned brews that enrich and inspire. But don’t just take our word for it…

“I’ve bought and installed every piece of machinery in this brewery, and this was by far the best startup I’ve ever been through,” says Tom Thomasser, Chief Operations Officer of Summit Brewing Co. “Our efficiencies exceeded expectations from day one. I would definitely buy another Douglas machine.”

Check here to see the Vantra IM in action at Summit’s brewery.

Make Secondary Packaging Simple With Douglas Machine

If you’d like to join in on the Summit experience, then check out their beer finder tool to find a brew near you. (We hear their Oktoberfest is particularly tasty this time of year.) Also, be sure to connect with us for more information on Douglas Machine and our wide range of secondary packaging solutions. You can also reach out for more insights into finding the right cartoner machine manufacturer for your needs. We’d be happy to provide all the support you need to find the perfect machine for your customers and business goals. Until then, fellow beer lovers.

2018 has been a great year for the Douglas Machine team, thanks in no small part to our incredible customers. We’re honored to provide our partners with some of the best secondary packaging solutions in the business. Our shrink wrappers, cartoners, palletizers and machine enhancements have been supporting Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers for over 50 years, paving the way for superior business results. Today, we’d like to discuss one of our recent projects to give you a better idea of what it’s like to partner with Douglas.

The Impact of Service & Teamwork

Being awarded a machine order is a huge accomplishment for our team—and it starts with a series of tasks that need to be efficiently completed to ensure we meet and exceed customer expectations. That’s where our Servant’s Heart shines through. This core value of our business represents our never-ending desire to serve and support others. Our commitment to service drives us to do the best work possible, fostering superior results and products for our customers. And because this project demanded close teamwork between many branches of Douglas Machine, our staff needed to pair excellent service with careful collaboration.

At the onset of our partnership with the customer, we presented them with a range of machine solutions to suit their production goals. Together, we determined that an Axiom case & tray packer would be the ideal choice. More specifically, this Axiom machine featured a Velocity Stacker infeed to maximize packing efficiency. This machine exceeded the customer’s efficiency expectations of 98% during their Site Acceptance Test (SAT). This outstanding outcome was the direct result of ensuring the machine was complete at the time of shipment—and supporting and servicing customer team members during machine installation and start-up.

Overcoming Obstacles

Projects can seem effortless when everything goes according to plan. If you want to assess the quality of a business partner, you need to see how they respond when things go wrong. After a successful installation of the Axiom machine, we quickly ran into issues with integrating our machine with the overall production line. Soon after, we determined that the flow and condition of the product to our machine needed improvement. A majority of this responsibility fell on the shoulders of the customer’s Maintenance Manager, who was under severe pressure from leadership due to poor overall line performance and limited production.

Eager to help, our personnel worked closely alongside the client’s Maintenance Manager, providing input to assist them with improving line performance. Identifying and addressing these production challenges took several weeks, but we saw gradual improvements to the condition and flow of product as we implemented solutions. We also participated in several conference calls to help the client review line performances. This approach ensured that we kept focused on resolving open issues and completing the SAT.

The Heroes Behind the Project

A number of Douglas team members played an integral part in this project, including Almir Gezo, Ryan Fernholz, Brad Flies, Eric Korman, Monte Mounsdon, Abigail Bray, Wayne Ellingson, David Johnson, Dan Jensen and Erik Kruger. These employees gave their all to support the customer and their staff as we all pursued success.

Ryan and Almir kept in close contact with the client and ensured that our team understood their concerns and expectations for quality. Brad provided swift and reliable responses to the client’s requests for on-site tech support. Erik Kruger, Wayne Ellingson, David Johnson, Dan Jensen, Eric Korman, Abigail Bray and Monte Mounsdon brought empathy, humility and tireless passion to their work with the client, providing on-site support and assisting with difficult discussions—all while pushing to get production runs to exceed efficiency goals.

Douglas’ team maintained a spirit of positivity and diligence throughout this project, taking definitive action to resolve problems as they emerged and support each other—even when these problems weren’t our responsibility to address. Thanks to their combined efforts and ingenuity, we secured repeat orders for our Axiom platform. Best of all, the client’s leadership spoke highly of both our staff and our machine solution!

Douglas Machine is incredibly proud of the courage and service our team members displayed during this project. These professionals went above and beyond to ensure the success of our customer, securing a promising relationship for our company. We anticipate new opportunities from this client as we work to earn their continued business.

Secondary Packaging Solutions from Douglas Machine

Ready to learn more about Douglas and our innovative machine solutions? Then be sure to call or message us today. You can also connect with us to learn more about our values and the other customers we’ve served over the years. We can’t wait to hear from you.

My favorite month has come and gone: October, the official month to celebrate employee ownership here at Douglas Machine. Last month, our team commemorated the 18th year of its ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). As a company, we take great pride in demonstrating Ownership Spirit in everything we do, including celebrating our history and progress. And this year, we mixed things up with a handful of exciting new activities, as well as a few returning favorites…

For over 50 years, Douglas Machine has led the way in secondary packaging solutions. Douglas case & tray packers, shrink wrap systems, cartoners and robotic palletizers help Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers across the country maximize efficiency, productivity and safety. Our unwavering integrity and commitment to innovation have earned us the opportunity to work with some of the best brands in the country. But it takes more than hard work and creative problem-solving to thrive in the business world; you also need a clear vision to guide employees and the company at large.

The Benefits Employee Ownership

It’s no secret that ESOPs bring major benefits to businesses — ranging from attracting new employees to increasing organizational performance. In fact, according to a recent economic survey from the Employee Ownership Foundation, 76% of respondents said that the ESOP positively affected the overall productivity of employees and 70.5% reported an increase in profitability from previous years. That’s because ESOPs align incentives, providing meaningful returns for employee owners. After all, it’s much easier to justify hard work when it’s directly contributing to your own success!

Thanks to the Douglas ESOP, every employee owner benefits directly from our company’s growth. This approach ensures that employee goals align with company goals, maximizing business performance and providing a more rewarding work experience for our team members. The result? Stronger work ethic, better retention and more opportunities to celebrate!

Douglas Machine Celebrates Employee Ownership

We were thrilled to celebrate another year of employee ownership last month through a range of fun activities. Our goal was to create events that every member would be able to participate in. And I’m happy to announce that this year’s ESOP University Treasure Hunt (an online event that even our newest IPM employee owners could enjoy) was very popular among the team.

Douglas also raised funds for the Miracle Horse Riders last month. This organization is based in Long Prairie, MN and has been providing equine-assisted therapies to people with special needs since 1998. After gathering enough donations, we purchased a cart that could be pulled by the driving team and used by participants unable to ride the actual horses. We were honored to support the Miracle Horse Riders in their mission to enrich lives and provide for those with pressing physical, mental and emotional needs.

These were just a few of the wonderful events we hosted this year to celebrate our employee ownership. Other popular activities included the Wildlife Expo, Chipping Contest, Werner Lunch and Bean Bag Toss. We were also given the opportunity to enjoy a Lunch ‘n Learn session with our Vice President and CFO Tom Wosepka, titled “What’s in It for Me?”

Thanks to everyone who participated in the fun this October! We’d also like to thank the wonderful members of our EOC Committee, who helped organize this year’s events.

The EOC Committee:

•         Julie Rubner
•         Dan Miller
•         Richard Scott
•         Tom Wosepka
•         Mark Wicklund
•         Brad Yerkes
•         Devin Middendorf
•         Ray Frazee
•         Andy Radermacher
•         Carol Weossner
•         Hannah Daniels
•         Kirby Chermak
•         Andy Olerud (not pictured)

Contact Douglas Machine Today

If you’d like to learn more about the Douglas Machine team or our wide variety of secondary packaging solutions, then be sure to reach out to us. You can also contact us to chat about the many benefits of employee ownership and how it drives Douglas forward. We’d love to hear from you.