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Shrink wrapping shines at Platinum Packaging

New automatic feeding and shrink-wrapping equipment at this Gurnee, IL, contract packager adds capacity to collate and wrap gift boxes, calendars, and other specialty items.See video

Gift box blanks are conveyed into centerfolded film formed into a tube by this angled inverting head.
Gift box blanks are conveyed into centerfolded film formed into a tube by this angled inverting head.

Since incorporating in 1996, Platinum Packaging Inc.’s contract packaging business has flourished. So much so that the company moved from its original 20ꯠ-sq’ facility to another location 10 times larger. Then, in mid-2001, Platinum outgrew the second structure and moved into its current 345ꯠ-sq’ production facility in Gurnee, IL. It houses 20 packaging lines, 15귔 storage rack locations, and 19 shipping and receiving docks.

The six most automated lines at the Gurnee plant use shrink wrappers and heat tunnels from Shanklin, with the exception of one line that uses a different tunnel (see sidebar, page 38). All six HS-1 wrappers are equipped with Model C700W18T-312 friction feeders from Longford. Platinum sourced the equipment from its distributor, Malow Engineered Packaging Solutions.

Added in early 2002, the equipment did not replace other machinery. “We specifically purchased the machines for wrapping gift boxes for a company that prefers not to be identified,” says Dave Sonn, president of Platinum Packaging. “For the six lines, it’s an investment of around $2 million, and it’s justified by the contract we signed with them.”

That contract runs for three years. Specific volumes were not divulged, but the equipment produces around 20ꯠ wrapped, shrunk, and labeled packages per line, depending on box size, in an eight-hour shift. Sonn explains that the Shanklin equipment can produce as many as 120 packs/min, though different pack sizes result in speeds ranging from 50 to 80/minute.

Feeding frenzy

For its other packaging lines, Platinum receives prepackaged products in stretch-wrapped pallet loads from consumer packaged goods companies. Platinum personnel break down these loads and repackage them according to customer instructions. Most of the CP’s business is in wrapping packages of gift boxes, calendars, cosmetics, and pet food.

The CP employs a full-time staff of 50, with a temporary workforce that swells to as many as 450, depending on the season and specific jobs. Manual lines are often used to make gift packs.

Besides two-piece gift boxes, Platinum also uses the six new automated shrink packaging lines to collate and shrink wrap calendars, kids’ stickers, playing and trading cards, games, literature, CDs, and DVDs.

Unprinted gift boxes, though, dominate production on these lines. Boxes range in size from 3”x3” to 24” long x 18” wide. “We pack box bases and box lids into the magazine or hopper on the back of each of the feeders at the infeed of each of the Shanklin lines,” explains Jack Sloan, the CP’s sales manager.

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