Proportional valve technology makes it stick

A critical step in folding box manufacturing is the highly precise gluing of the box blanks. Folding-gluing machines process box blanks from a die cutter by folding and gluing them into finished folding boxes. Afterward, the folding boxes are assembled and filled by automatic packing machines. Many boxes must be folded in and across the machine’s direction of movement before the glue is applied to ensure that the boxes can be put together e ortlessly later.

“Applying the right amount of glue in the right place is no easy task,” said Marco Ahler, technical director at Baumer hhs, a German manufacturer of industrial adhesive application systems.

Gluing machines achieve speeds of more than 700 meters per minute and can glue well more than 40,000 folding boxes per hour, depending on the packaging size. Baumer hhs builds systems that apply glue with millimeter accuracy and without contacting the blank, even at high production speeds. Its modular systems include a high-pressure adhesive supply, fast-switching electromagnetic application valves, and a control unit.