From 60 Hands to One Machine: The Future of Tray Forming is Here
This system not only delivered a 130% increase in productivity, but also transformed packaging from a production bottleneck into a scalable, strategic advantage.
TF-500
Tray Forming and
Fulfillment System
Delivers unmatched automation, producing 3,500+ products per hour while ensuring 100% product integrity. Designed for scalability, accuracy, and seamless integration, this state-of-the-art system will transform your packaging operations with modular flexibility.
Next-Generation Tray Forming & Filling — Precision, Speed, and Flexibility
In industries where presentation, precision, and product integrity are non-negotiable, the TF-500 Tray Forming and Filling System sets a new standard. Designed for luxury goods, confectionery, electronics, and personal care packaging, this system ensures flawless tray formation and seamless product integration at high speeds.
Unlike traditional solutions, the TF-500 combines advanced motion control, automated 4-corner folding, and real-time vision inspection, making it the ideal choice for businesses looking to scale production while maintaining premium quality. From delicate chocolates to high-end consumer electronics, the
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Rigid Luxury Trays
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Food and Beverage
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Personal Care & Cosmetics
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Multi-Compartment Trays
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Custom-Size Trays
Reduce Costs
- Optimize Production Efficiency: Automated tray forming reduces labor costs and improves output.
- Minimized Manual Handling: Reduces operator intervention while maintaining precision.
- Material Optimization: Designed to maximize board usage and minimize waste.
Grow Your Business
- Flexible Tray Configurations: Supports multiple tray sizes and materials to meet diverse packaging needs.
- High-Precision 4-Corner Folding: ensures uniform, rigid trays every time.
- Integrated Vision Inspection: Ensures 100% defect-free trays for premium packaging.
Minimize Downtime
- Quick Product Changeover: Recipe-based automation allows seamless transitions between tray formats.
- User-Friendly Interface: Dual 15-inch touchscreens streamline system control and monitoring.
- Real-Time Production Tracking: Advanced reporting and analytics ensure peak system performance.
CASE STUDY
Pack-Smart Automates a High-Complexity Workflow with Breakthrough Efficiency Gains
Lindt, the iconic Swiss chocolatier known for its premium confections like Lindor truffles and Excellence bars, turned to Pack-Smart Inc. to overcome a critical production challenge. Faced with rising labor costs, inconsistent quality, and capacity limitations, Lindt sought an advanced packaging solution that could dramatically reduce manual labor while increasing precision, reliability, sustainability and output.
Pack-Smart Inc. delivered with the TF-500 Tray Forming & Fulfillment System, a high-speed automation system that reimagines the entire packaging workflow for simplex tray forming.
Watch the Tray Forming and Fulfullment System in Action
- The TF-500 automates 4-corner folding with precision, ensuring every tray is uniform and structurally sound.
- Designed for high-speed production, the system forms up to 3,500 trays per hour without compromising accuracy.
- Integrated vision-guided quality control inspects each tray in real time to ensure 100% defect-free packaging.
- Compatible with a wide range of tray sizes and board thicknesses, making it ideal for various industries.
- Vacuum-assisted product retention prevents misalignment and ensures smooth material handling during high-speed runs.
- Dual 15-inch touchscreen control panels offer an intuitive user experience and simplify product changeovers.
- Ergonomic feeder design minimizes manual intervention and optimizes material loading efficiency.
- Configurable system modules allow manufacturers to adapt tray forming workflows based on product needs.
- Handles tray sizes from 50 × 50 mm to 250 × 250 mm, accommodating diverse packaging needs.
- Supports board thicknesses from 10 to 40 pt, providing flexibility for different structural requirements.
- Operates at speeds of up to 3,500 products per hour, maximizing efficiency.
- Ensures placement accuracy of ±0.4 mm, delivering consistently high-quality tray formation.
- Modular design allows for customized tray layouts and multi-compartment configurations.
- Inline vision inspection provides real-time defect detection and reporting, enhancing quality assurance.
- Integrated motion control platform synchronizes each module, ensuring seamless performance at every stage.
- Energy-efficient components reduce power consumption while maintaining high-output performance.
Process Flow
The TF-500 Tray Forming and Filling System streamlines every stage of the packaging process, from precision tray forming and product placement to secure lid application and final delivery, ensuring high-speed, error-free operation with seamless automation.
- Base Tray Feeding: The Rotary Pick and Place system accurately picks and feeds flat tray blanks into the forming section, ensuring seamless high-speed operation.
- Base Tray Printing: The SJ Series DOD Inkjet applies high-resolution variable data, branding, or serialization directly onto the flat tray before erection.
- Base Tray Erecting: The system’s automated folding mechanism precisely forms and locks the tray structure, achieving accuracy for a rigid and reliable base.
- Base Tray Transfer: The Lugged Transport System moves the formed trays through the next processing steps, ensuring alignment and controlled positioning.
- Vac Tray Feeding and De-Nesting: The Rotary Pick and Place efficiently de-nests and feeds trays onto the line, ensuring smooth, non-contact handling for delicate or pre-formed trays
- Tray Transfer to Filling Line: Trays are accurately positioned and transferred to the filling line using the Lugged Transport System, ensuring precise movement and spacing.
- Tray Delivery for Offline Filling: Trays designated for offline filling are diverted to a secondary track, allowing for flexible production workflow.
- Tray Weight Check and Divert: The inline weighing system verifies product weight, diverting non-compliant trays to a reject lane while maintaining line efficiency.
- Tray Stacking Unit: Trays can be stacked before or after filling, optimizing storage, buffering, or secondary packaging operations.
- Tray Transfer for Lid Placement: The Lugged Transport System moves the filled trays to the lid placement section, ensuring precise alignment.
- Lid Feeding and Placement: The Rotary Pick and Place accurately picks, feeds, and places rigid lids onto each tray, ensuring seamless integration.
- Lid Positioning and Tray Closing: The system aligns and applies controlled pressure to securely position and close the lid, ensuring a tight and uniform seal.
- Double Wafer Seal Application: A security wafer label applicator applies tamper-evident double wafer seals to ensure product integrity and compliance.
- Finished Product Delivery: The completed, sealed trays are transferred to the final outfeed, ready for secondary packaging or shipping.
- System Motion Control: A fully integrated motion control system synchronizes all modules, ensuring high-speed precision and seamless automation.
- Machine Interface: The user-friendly touchscreen HMI provides real-time monitoring, system diagnostics, and recipe management for quick product changeovers.
Included Technologies
The TF-500 Tray Forming and Filling System integrates advanced automation and intelligent motion control technologies to deliver precision, efficiency, and reliability at every stage of the tray packaging process. Each component is engineered to optimize performance, ensuring seamless operation and high-speed throughput.
AL Series
Powered Autoloader
Maximize productivity with the AL Series Powered Autoloader. Designed to extend loading capacities and reduce manual reloading for high-speed applications, ensuring continuous operation and efficiency.
BSC-1000
Barcode and Data Reading
A user-friendly, fully packaged CCD reader, offering easy integration and several configurations to meet a variety of needs.
SJ Series
DOD Inkjet
Smart Jet uses industry leading head technology to deliver UV Cured 600 DPI DOD Ink onto any surface.
VSC-1000
Vision Scan System
The VSC-1000 Vision System offers state-of-the-art vision scanning and real-time image processing, ideal for high-speed production environments.
VC Series
Vacuum Transport
High torque servo driven vacuum transport conveys products at accurate speeds and controls product placement with 8 selectable vacuum zones.
RPP Series
Reciprocating Pick and Place Series
Maximize your production efficiency with the RPP Series, designed for high-speed, accurate handling of delicate materials and uniquely shaped products.
