Based in Mannheim, Germany, Lichtenberger Verpackungen is a family-owned corrugated packaging converter with a rich history spanning over 70 years. Since its founding, the company has evolved from a traditional paper converting business into a modern, high-tech corrugated packaging manufacturer. Now employing 150 people It operates across 20,000 sqm of production and storage space, converting approximately 40 million sqm of corrugated board annually.
Latest Investment
In a move to further enhance its rapid reaction time to market demands, the company recently commissioned a Kolbus BX Motion Pro, the high-performance short run boxmaking line from KOLBUS Group.
Stefan Tamm, CEO Lichtenberger Verpackungen, said: “We own a box maker that’s almost 50 years old and is starting to show its age. At the same time, we have a large volume of orders in this segment. That’s why we started to assess the market and looked for alternatives. We got to know Kolbus at a trade show, stayed in touch, met up again and at some point. A new generation of boxmakers was released which caught our attention,”
The BX Motion Pro can be specified with both fully automated product infeed and delivery. This is designed to enable full pallets of board to be automatically processed with no manual intervention. The solution requires ‘in floor’ pallet lifts to ensure pallets of board can be quickly placed in position for feeding and removed after processing through the line, which is raised from floor level to allow maximum pallet height processing.
The Kolbus Auto Feed incorporates a precision alignment section as the first process within the BX Motion Pro, ensuring the board is in the exact position for precise production, sheet after sheet. The delivery system utilises a dual gripper design to ensure production speed is not limited, providing accurate stacking, even on the largest products.
Stefan Tamm said: “After we decided on Kolbus as our supplier, the phase from signing the contract to project completion was characterised by a strong partnership. In retrospect, there was an absolute focus on solutions. Certainly, there are new features in the machine that didn’t exist before. The result is a high-performance machine that meets our requirements.”
Lichtenberger Verpackungen is using their machine mostly for the production of pallet boxes with glue application – and with the pushers in the stacker, the boxes are ready to ship when they come out of the machine.
Stefan “It has been a success story for us. We have chosen the digital printing function as well as the glue application and we still have the option to expand further. This shows the modularity of the machine.”
The line at Lichtenberger Verpackungen is equipped with:
Auto feeder with 5m scissor lift which is in a pit.
Heavy duty line cut and heavy-duty creaser.
Die-cut unit for bespoke die-cuts and hand holds.
Standard line crease and standard line cut.
Print unit.
Glue and 60mm flap crush roll + cross cut (Inline flap gluing).
Slotting beam.
Transfer line to stacker.
Stacker with pusher on the side and end stop.
Ongoing Support
“Regarding Kolbus’s service, there was always someone we could call. During the critical phases like setting-up the machine or start of production, there were always experts on-site to assist or who supported us remotely, The machine will play an important role in our future, because we have an interesting work mix. We’re currently seeing upcoming regulations that set new requirements for labelling our products, for example the PPWR. This is a solid investment for us.”
We’ve managed to go from two-person operation to one-person operation while doubling our output,” concludes Steffen Tamm. “You can definitely say it has been a success story for us. We have chosen the digital printing function as well as the glue application and we still have the option to expand further. This shows the modularity of the machine, and we can adapt to customer requirements in the upcoming years. We can install further print heads and add further modules. Summed up, we have a machine that is able to grow with our needs. That’s the reason we feel well taken care of by Kolbus.”
