The Challenge

A food and beverage producer near Graz, Austria was manually forming and taping cartons at its shipping area. The facility ships around 1,200 cartons per day, with two operators dedicated to carton erecting during peak shifts.

Each carton was opened, folded, and taped by hand using handheld tape dispensers. This led to long queues at packing stations, inconsistent box squareness, and frequent rework when cartons did not fit automated conveyors. Overtime for the packing team averaged €500 per month, largely driven by the slow manual erecting step.

Manual Process

Operators followed a repetitive workflow: pick a flat blank, open it, fold flaps, then apply tape manually. Fatigue and variation between operators resulted in crooked taping and occasionally crushed corners.

Before Automation:

• Daily volume: 1,200 cartons/day
• Cycle time per unit: 24 seconds/carton
• Total daily time: 1,200 × 24 s = 28,800 s = 480 minutes (8.0 hours/day)
• Labor cost: 8.0 h × €25/h = €200/day
• Rework/issues: Approximately 6% cartons needing rework (72/day)

With 6% of cartons needing to be refolded or retaped, packers regularly stopped the line to fix boxes that were not square enough for automatic weighing and labelling. Management wanted to recover at least one full-time equivalent from this cell and stabilize outbound flow.

Automated Solution

The plant integrated the AUTOBOX10 Automatic Case Erector at the front of the packing line, feeding erected, bottom-taped cartons directly onto the conveyor. The machine was set up for the company’s three main carton formats and connected to existing tape supplies.

After Installing AUTOBOX10 Automatic Case Erector:

• Machine operates at 60% of maximum capacity for reliability
• New cycle time: 6 seconds/carton (≈10 cartons/min)
• Total daily time: 1,200 × 6 s = 7,200 s = 120 minutes (2.0 hours/day of attended time)
• Labor cost: 2.0 h × €25/h = €50/day
• Quality improvement: Rework reduced from 6% to 2% (from 72 to 24 cartons/day)

A single operator now supervises the AUTOBOX10 for about 2 hours per day for carton loading, tape roll changes, and checks, then moves to other tasks. The line consistently reaches the target 1,200 cartons/day with reserve capacity for seasonal peaks.

ROI Calculation

Investment:
Machine price: €9,990
Daily savings: Before €200/day − After €50/day = €150/day
Monthly savings (22 working days): €150/day × 22 days = €3,300/month
Payback period: €9,990 ÷ €3,300/month = 3.03 months ≈ 3.1 months

Additional unquantified gains include fewer line stops due to crooked cartons and lower overtime costs during high-demand weeks. The AUTOBOX10 also provides headroom to increase output without adding headcount at the shipping area.

Conclusion

By replacing manual case forming with the AUTOBOX10 Automatic Case Erector, the Austrian facility cut erecting labor from 8.0 hours to 2.0 hours per day and reduced rework by two-thirds. The project delivered around €150/day in direct labor savings, achieving payback in just over 3 months.

“The AUTOBOX10 freed almost one full operator from carton erecting, dropped our daily labor from €200 to about €50, and we now run 1,200 cartons a day without the bottlenecks we had before. Getting our money back in just over three months made this one of the easiest investments to justify.” — Martin Hofer, Packaging Manager, AlpenFrisch Foods/Graz, Austria