Lantech

06/11/2026

It sounds like a minor detail.

It isn't.

The choice between tape and hot melt adhesive for sealing your cases has real consequences for your line speed, your maintenance schedule, your sustainability targets, and the integrity of your packaging under different conditions.

Here's how to think through it.

Tape is the simpler option to get started with. It's easy to source, straightforward to change, and leaves a visible seal that's easy to inspect. It works well in environments where temperature fluctuates, because tape doesn't re-melt under heat or become brittle in the cold the way adhesive can. It's also the preferred option where tamper-evidence is important — the seal is visually obvious if broken.

Hot melt adhesive delivers a cleaner, faster seal. At high-speed lines it's generally the better choice — the application is precise, the bond forms quickly, and there's no tape roll to change. It also produces a neater finished case, which matters in retail or consumer-facing packaging.

There's no universal right answer. The right choice depends on your line speed, your environment, your SKU range, and what your downstream equipment can handle.

What are you running currently — and has it ever caused problems?

06/10/2026

FRAUD ALERT - Please Read

We have been made aware that someone is impersonating a Lantech recruiter and sending fake job offers to job seekers, specifically surrounding a remote videographer role.

These scam emails are coming from [email protected] or [email protected] — this is NOT our company.

Lantech will NEVER:
- Offer you a job without a real interview
- Ask for personal information via unofficial email addresses
- Send equipment payment checks before your start date
- Conduct all hiring through email or instant messaging only

Our only official hiring communications come from .com addresses. All real openings are posted at https://recruitingbypaycor.com/career/CareerHome.action?clientId=8a7883c69af127d1019b0dc6f6c70763

If you or someone you know received one of these emails:
- Do NOT reply or share any personal information
- Do NOT deposit any checks
- Report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov
- Contact us directly at [email protected] to verify

This career site has been disabled. Contact the Sales Representative in charge of this account to find out how to enable this career site.

06/10/2026

Not every production line needs the fastest machine on the market.

Some need the right machine for the job — reliable, compact, easy to set up, and simple to run without a specialist on site every time something changes.

That's the problem the C1000 was built to solve.

The C1000 is Lantech's modular case erector, designed for lines that are ready to move away from manual erecting without the complexity or footprint of a high-speed system. It handles the fundamentals exceptionally well: consistent box formation, fast format changeover, and a straightforward operator interface that doesn't require extensive training.

What makes it the right fit for many manufacturers:

It's compact. Floor space is expensive, and the C1000 is designed to fit into lines where space is limited — without sacrificing output quality.

It's fast to change over. Switching between box formats is a common challenge for manufacturers running multiple SKUs. The C1000 reduces that time significantly compared to manual handling.
It's easy to maintain. Fewer moving parts means fewer points of failure and easier access when maintenance is needed. Downtime is short.

It connects. The C1000 is LINC® compatible, which means remote monitoring and performance data are available from day one — even on an entry-level system.

If your line is currently handling case erecting manually and you're running between 200 and 600+ cases per hour, this is where the conversation usually starts.

What does your current hourly output look like?

06/09/2026

Most people on the production floor know what a case erector does.

Far fewer can explain exactly how it does it.

That gap matters — because when something goes wrong, understanding the process is the difference between a five-minute fix and a two-hour standstill.

Here's how it works, step by step.

Flat, folded cardboard blanks are loaded into the magazine of the machine. From there, a mechanical pickup frame with vacuum suction cups picks a single blank and pulls it open into its box shape. At this point the case is held in position — square, aligned, ready.

Next, the bottom flaps fold in sequence. The order matters: first the minor flaps, then the major flaps. This sequence creates the structural integrity of the base. A poorly timed fold here is where most reject cases begin.

The base is then sealed. Depending on the configuration, this happens with hot melt adhesive or pressure-sensitive tape. Both have their place — more on that in an upcoming post.
The case exits the machine fully erected, square, and sealed at the base — ready for filling downstream.

The entire process takes between one and three seconds per case, depending on machine speed and format.

That's it. Flat blank in. Solid case out. Hundreds of times per hour, every hour, without variation.
When it's running well, you don't notice it. When it isn't, you notice nothing else.
What part of this process causes the most downtime on your line?

06/05/2026

06/05/2026

AMRs are transforming end-of-line operations — but too often, they stop coordinating at the palletizer. What happens next matters just as much.

Our very own Ciaran Donnelly and KUKA Robotics' Andrew Jones co-authored a piece in Packaging Technology Today on how AMRs and stretch wrapping technology can work together as a truly integrated system — improving throughput, reducing film waste, and eliminating the bottlenecks that slow down even well-automated lines.

Worth a read if you're designing or specifying end-of-line automation.

👉 https://hubs.li/Q04k4Q430

06/04/2026

Some days are worth stopping for. Lantech Day is one of them. 🎉

Every year, we get to step away from the line and actually connect with the people we work alongside every day. Yesterday at our Louisville headquarters, that's exactly what we did — an outdoor luncheon, good company, and (the real highlight) an Ehrler's ice cream truck to cap it off. 🍦

Here's to another year of doing what we love — together.

06/04/2026

Not every line needs a case erector.

But some lines needed one years ago and still don't have one.

Here are three signals that tell you the timing is right — and that the cost of waiting is quietly growing.

Signal 1: Your volume has outgrown your team
When case erecting was a small part of the process, manual handling made sense. But if your line is running north of 300–400 cases per shift and operators are struggling to keep pace, you've crossed the threshold where automation pays for itself quickly. The machine doesn't slow down at the end of a shift. Your people do.

Signal 2: You run more than two box formats
Format changeovers done manually are slow and inconsistent. Every time a new SKU comes through, you lose time, increase error risk and put pressure on the team. A modern case erector handles format changes in minutes — not half a shift.

Signal 3: You've accepted a reject rate you shouldn't have
If your downstream equipment regularly jams, or your quality checks flag box integrity issues, the root cause is often upstream. Poorly erected cases don't announce themselves — they just create problems further down the line that get blamed on other machines.

One signal is a question mark.
Two signals is a conversation worth having.
Three signals is a decision that's overdue.

Which of these is showing up on your line right now?

06/03/2026

Most production managers can tell you their machine's output per hour.

Far fewer can tell you what manual case erecting is actually costing them.

It's not because they don't care. It's because the cost doesn't show up as a single line item. It hides across three places most people never add up together.

Place 1: Labour time that doesn't feel like waste
When operators open cases by hand, it feels normal. It's always been done that way. But at a conservative estimate of 4–6 seconds per case, on a line running 800 cases per shift, that's nearly 90 minutes of productive time spent on a task a machine could do in a fraction of a second.

Place 2: The reject rate you've accepted
Manually erected cases are inconsistent. Slightly open flaps, uneven bases, weak corners. Downstream equipment — fillers, sealers, palletisers — wasn't designed to handle variation. Every reject is a cost. Most lines have learned to live with a reject rate they should never have accepted.

Place 3: The human cost
Repetitive manual case erecting is one of the higher-risk tasks on the floor for musculoskeletal strain. Absenteeism, reduced output during recovery, recruitment to replace experienced operators — none of this shows up on the machine budget, but all of it is real.

Add those three together and the number is rarely small.

We've seen manufacturers discover that what they thought was a €40.000 investment decision was actually a €120.000 annual problem they'd been quietly absorbing for years.

Have you ever done the full calculation for your line?

06/02/2026

Your packaging line is running at full speed.

And then it stops.
Not because of the stretch wrapper.
Not because of the conveyor.
Not because of the labeller.

Because of the case erector.

It's rarely the machine people think about first when planning a line. It's compact. It's "just" opening boxes. How much can go wrong?

Quite a lot, as it turns out.

When a case erector goes down — or runs inconsistently — everything behind it stops too. Boxes arrive malformed. Downstream equipment jams. Your operators start opening cases by hand, which slows the entire line and adds error into a process that should be automatic.

The case erector sits at the beginning of the end-of-line process. That position makes it one of the most critical points on the floor — and one of the most underestimated.

We've spent years helping manufacturers across Europe solve exactly this problem. The conversation usually starts with a different symptom: line efficiency is below target, reject rates are creeping up, people are doing jobs machines should be doing.

Then we look at the case erector.

What does your experience tell you — is the case erector on your line the bottleneck you planned for, or the one you didn't?