Lantech

Most stretch wrapper specs are written for one facility.

The problem is, most large-scale automation projects aren't.

When you're designing a DC system for a client with facilities in Texas, the Netherlands, and Chile, every vendor you put on that drawing comes with you. The conveyors. The AS/RS. The sorters. And yes, the stretch wrappers at the end of the line.

The core material handling vendors on a Tier 1 project typically have global service infrastructure — that's partly why they're on the short list. But end-of-line packaging equipment gets specified later in the design phase, and it doesn't always get the same scrutiny.

That's where the gap shows up.

A stretch wrapper going down in Munich at 2 a.m. is not a problem you can solve by calling Louisville in the morning. If the vendor doesn't have efficient parts logistics to Germany, native-language technical support, and equipment certified to CE standards, the problem is yours to resolve — not theirs.

Here's what global service coverage for packaging equipment actually requires in a multi-site project:

→ Fast parts delivery, internationally — not just domestically → Local engineering support that holds across time zones and languages → Regional regulatory compliance (CE, UL, RoHS) baked in, not retrofitted → Distributed manufacturing that absorbs tariff and shipping disruptions before they hit your timeline.

The integrators who win repeat business from Fortune 100 clients aren't the ones who specified the cheapest machine. They're the ones whose vendors showed up — in Atlanta, Amsterdam, and Santiago — without escalation calls.

Lantech has manufacturing in the US and Netherlands, service coverage across multiple countries, and over 100,000 machines placed globally. When something goes wrong in a facility your client built because you told them it would work, the answer shouldn't be "we'll try to find someone local."

One call. Any country. That's the standard.

We wrote about what global footprint actually means for integrator project risk — and why packaging equipment is where this gap most often shows up. Link in first comment.

Nobody talks about the first week after installation.

The brochure shows the machine running perfectly. The sales conversation focuses on output numbers and payback periods. And both of those things matter.
But the first week is where trust is actually built — or lost.

We've installed case erectors across manufacturing and logistics facilities worldwide. And while every site is different, the first week tends to follow a recognisable pattern.

Day one is never about speed. It's about alignment. Getting the machine integrated into the line, confirming blank feed settings, running at reduced speed to catch anything that wasn't visible during commissioning. Operators are watching closely. So are we.

Day two and three is where the questions come. Not problems — questions. How does the format changeover work in practice? What does this indicator mean? What happens if a blank jams here? Good questions. The kind that only get asked once someone has actually run the machine.

By the end of the first week, something shifts. The operators who were sceptical at the start are running the changeovers themselves. The line manager has stopped watching the case erector and started watching the rest of the line again. The machine has become part of the process — not a new variable in it.

That transition — from new equipment to trusted equipment — is the outcome we're actually aiming for.

It doesn't always go perfectly. Blank quality varies. Integration with upstream equipment sometimes needs adjustment. Occasionally something surfaces that wasn't in the site survey. When that happens, the response matters more than the problem.

What we hear most often, a few months after installation, isn't about the machine's speed or its footprint.

It's: "We should have done this sooner."

What has held your operation back from making a change you knew was necessary?

Every industry has its own version of the same problem.

In food and beverage, the version is harder.

It's not just about erecting cases consistently and quickly. It's about doing that in an environment where hygiene standards are non-negotiable, where washdowns happen daily, where stainless steel surfaces and sealed enclosures aren't optional extras — they're baseline requirements.

And it's about doing it at the speeds that modern food production demands, with the reliability that shelf-life and delivery windows don't forgive.
Here's what changes when a case erector goes into a food or beverage facility.

Hygiene design matters. Open frames that collect debris, hard-to-reach lubrication points, and surfaces that can't be cleaned without disassembly are not acceptable in food environments. Lantech case erectors designed for food applications use smooth, accessible surfaces, food-grade lubrication where required, and enclosures that meet the facility's hygiene classification.

IP ratings are not decoration. Washdown environments require equipment that can handle moisture — not just tolerate a dry wipe. The right IP rating for your environment needs to be specified before installation, not discovered afterward.

Uptime tolerance is lower. In food production, a stopped line doesn't just mean missed output. It means temperature-sensitive product at risk, cleaning protocols that have to restart, and scheduling pressure that compounds across the shift.

Speed requirements are real. Beverage lines in particular run at high cycles. The case erector needs to match that pace without becoming the constraint that limits overall equipment effectiveness.
Food and beverage isn't a harder version of standard packaging. It's a different discipline — and the equipment needs to reflect that.

Are you running a food or beverage line and managing these challenges right now?

In 2010, Eurapon shipped around 1.000 boxes a day from their logistics centre.

Today, that number is up to 20.000.

That kind of growth doesn't happen by doing the same things faster. It happens by rethinking the process entirely — and being honest about where the bottleneck actually is.

For Eurapon, one of Germany's leading mail-order pharmacies, the bottleneck was at the beginning and end of the line. Semi-automatic case processing systems that had made sense at lower volumes were no longer keeping pace. Both case erecting and case sealing needed to get significantly faster — without sacrificing the flexibility to handle multiple formats on the same line.
After a competitive tender process, Eurapon chose Lantech. Two C1000 case erectors and two CS1000 random case sealers were installed across their two processing lines.

The results were immediate and measurable.

Line speed increased from 12 to 20 cycles per minute — with capacity for up to 30. Two operators per line were freed up and redeployed to other tasks. The investment paid for itself in six months.
The Operations Manager at Eurapon, summed it up plainly: "The performance of these Lantech systems was greater and their space requirement smaller than those of the other machines offered to us."

Growth creates bottlenecks. The question is always where you find them — and how quickly you resolve them.
Find the link to this success story in the comments.

Where is your current bottleneck?