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Accelerating e-fulfilment with automation in packaging systems

We don’t need to point out the elephant in the room…but this pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way customers transact and purchase goods, as well as how we think about supply chains and fulfilment. And with many e-commerce players seeing record growth, no doubt this growth in e-commerce isn’t temporary, and expectations now are for it to dramatically expand. 

Leading corrugated cardboard manufacturer ABBE Corrugated, a key manufacturer and distributor in the Australian market already has had great success in supporting leading e-commerce players who were early adopters in Australia of a revolutionary Automated Packaging technology – the CMC CartonWrap. And now CartonWrap XL and the newly launched Genesys will provide even more advantages in this ever-evolving automation landscape. 

ABBE, as the Australian partner of CMC, has successfully brought to the Australian market the fulfilment and logistics packaging automation solutions developed by CMC Machinery, which complements the group’s manufacturing capability of Corrugated Fanfold material.  

Clever CartonWrap for Catch and e-fulfilment 

CMC have been operating for over 40 years and have continued to develop innovative packaging and mailing technology. 

ABBE have successfully installed CMC Packaging systems in major fulfilment centres such as Catch, Cotton On, Toll, Quantium Solutions and others.

The primary need is that retailers and logistics companies need to deliver products to the end user as fast as possible using less packaging material, optimal carton size and keeping pace with the speed of picking operations.

Catch and CartonWrap

CMC’s Cartonwrap 1000 model was the first 3D packaging machine in the market where each box is created unique to the product shipped, and Catch was the first of its league to embrace this solution.  

Launched in 2013, it has grown into the highest number of installations globally winning 20 international innovation awards.

It draws from continuous corrugated fanfold (manufactured by ABBE) with a dynamic box forming process to cut, crease and glue a box, insert the product, close the box, label it and then output it to despatch all in a fully automated process.

The benefits the CartonWrap system brought are:

• a perfect sized box with no empty space, 
• elimination of void fill, 
• achieving up to 50 per cent volume reduction, using less corrugate,
• lower shipping costs and lower operational costs, 

For your customers the benefits included:

• a robust strong shipping package
• easy to open, 
• optional printing to personalise the box – to create that unique unboxing experience
• re-usable and resealable for returns 

The next generation in 3D packaging: CMC Genesys launched May 2020

The challenges for fulfilment operators in the market have been how to keep pace with packing operations when shipping multi-line and odd shaped orders.

What CMC recognised is that in a lot of instances product pre-consolidation has been time consuming and has led to bad customer experience due to excessive plastics void filler material being used. 

They developed VaryTote® to eliminate pre-consolidation, to create perfect size box with no void fills and to fully automate the packaging process of multis.

The new CMC Genesys was designed to meet the demand for sustainable and recyclable packaging and the need to optimise the production processes and reduce shipping costs.

So multi-line orders are automatically picked and consolidated into the VaryTote® and the VaryTote® is directly conveyed to the Genesys auto-packing system. The VaryTote® has adjustable inner guides used to optimise the packing volume of the items, and their adjustment determines the dimensions of each box required.

Genesys uses a new highly innovative laser cutting system developed by CMC to cut and crease the box templates exactly. There is no waste and all excess trim is folded into the box to create a barrier to contain multiple items and remove the need for void fill.

The benefits are:

• multiline orders are fulfilled without pre-consolidation, with no need to strap or wrap multi item orders;
• it operates as a single workflow for singles and multis;
• digital laser cutting reduces mechanical maintenance;
• the operation is fully automated;
• less cardboard is consumed compared to traditional RSCs;
• unique box design removes the need for void fill;
• the box design provides higher transport strength compared to a box with void fill;
• improved customer unboxing experience with an easy open tear strip, thumb hole to open tab and a reusable box with seal strips for returns

Since choosing to partner with global packaging machinery manufacturers, ABBE Corrugated has achieved significant placements of automated/on-demand packaging machine solutions at leading e-commerce and 3PL facilities. ABBE anticipates significant and increasing demand from the B2B and B2C emerging market operators for automation solutions requiring both a mix of high volume fully automated systems as well as entry level on-demand packaging models. 

Is it an opportune time for your e-commerce/3PL business to consider if an automated packaging system is a viable solution to future-proof your ever-changing packaging and fulfilment requirements? 

Speak with the ABBE Automation team today or visit www.abbeautomation.com.au.