Method and system for creating custom-sized cardboard blanks for packagings and method and system for automatically packaging shipment sets in boxes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10752387-B2
Application number	US-201916264238-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2019
Priority date	Jan 31, 2018
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

A system for creating custom-sized cardboard blanks for folding packagings comprises a first and at least a second supply for fanfold cardboard, a control unit (e.g., microprocessor) that calculates, based on order information regarding the desired minimum dimensions of a current packaging, under predefined optimization criteria a first blank layout for folding the packaging, said blank layout comprising a leading edge and an ending edge and transverse and longitudinal crease lines dividing the blank having a desired length and width into panels, defines, based on predefined criteria, areas around the transverse crease lines and the leading and ending edges, in which no transverse folds from fanfolding the cardboard should be present, sensors communicatively coupled with said control unit that sense information indicative of a presence of transverse folds in cardboard, a cutter to cut-off the piece of cardboard from the first or the second web and form the desired blank.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for creating custom-sized cardboard blanks for folding packagings from a piece of corrugated cardboard cut-off from a web of fanfold cardboard, said cardboard having transverse folds from fanfolding, the method comprising:
calculating, based on order information regarding the desired minimum dimensions of a current packaging, under predefined optimization criteria a first blank layout for folding the packaging, said blank layout comprising a leading edge and an ending edge and transverse and longitudinal crease lines dividing a blank having a desired length and width into panels, said transverse crease lines separate from said transverse folds,
defining, based on predefined criteria, areas around the transverse crease lines, the leading edge and the ending edge, in which none of the transverse folds should be present,
obtaining information on the presence of said transverse folds in cardboard ready to be cutoff from a first web of fanfold cardboard and checking, if said transverse folds are present in said areas,
if none of the transverse folds are present in said areas, cutting-off a piece of cardboard and forming the desired blank, and
if one of the transverse folds is present in at least one of said areas, performing at least one of the following steps:
A) calculating a second blank layout for folding the same packaging, said second layout comprising transverse and longitudinal crease lines at different positions than the first layout,
B) enlarging at least one of the panels by shifting a respective transverse crease line and the ending edge,
C) obtaining information on the presence of said transverse folds in cardboard ready to be cut-off from at least one additional web of fanfold cardboard, and, if none of the transverse folds are present in said areas, cutting-off a piece of cardboard of the desired length from the at least one additional web.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein if one of the transverse folds is present in at least one of said areas, the method further comprises:
D) cutting-off a certain amount of the cardboard ready to be cut-off from the web of fanfold cardboard to be used for the blank to eliminate the transverse fold and/or to shift the position of the transverse folds with respect to the leading edge of the web.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein if one of the transverse folds is present in at least one of said areas further comprising:
E) calculating based on order information of a subsequent packaging at least a first blank layout for folding the packaging, and checking, if any of the transverse folds in the cardboard ready to be cut-off would interfere with the transverse crease lines and the leading and ending edges in this layout and, if not, processing the subsequent packaging first.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein if one of the transverse folds is present in at least one of said areas, the method further comprises evaluating under predefined optimization criteria which of said steps is performed.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the areas, in which none of the transverse folds should be present, have different extensions in the longitudinal direction of the blank layout.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein defining areas around the transverse crease lines, the leading edge and the ending edge, in which none of the transverse folds should be present includes assigning different priorities by a customer among priorities including minimized volume and maximized stability of the packaging for defining areas, taking these priorities into account upon deciding; which acts shall be performed in case one of the transverse folds is present in said areas.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein obtaining information on the presence of the transverse folds in the cardboard includes obtaining information on fold orientation in the fanfold stack and taking the fold orientation into account upon deciding, which acts shall be performed in case one of the transverse folds is present in said areas.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
placing a shipment set to be packaged on one of the panels of the blank forming a bottom panel of a box, and
folding the remaining panels around the shipment set.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising: turning the shipment set to be packaged by 90° in a plane parallel to the blank.

10. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:
preparing two shipment sets on parallel arranging stations,
determining a blank layout for both shipment sets,
determining based on information about said transverse folds present in cardboard ready to be cut-off from a web of fanfold cardboard, which shipment set shall be packaged first, and
transporting the shipment set to be packaged first onto a respective cardboard blank produced first.

11. A system for creating custom-sized cardboard blanks for folding packagings from a piece of corrugated cardboard cut-off from a web of fanfold cardboard, said cardboard having transverse folds from fanfolding, the system comprising:
a first and at least a second supply for supplying webs of fanfold cardboard,
a central control unit adapted for:
calculating, based on order information regarding the desired minimum dimensions of a current packaging, under predefined optimization criteria a first blank layout for folding the packaging, said blank layout comprising a leading edge and an ending edge and transverse and longitudinal crease lines dividing a blank having a desired length and width into panels, said transverse crease lines separate from said transverse folds, and
defining, based on predefined criteria, areas around the transverse crease lines and the leading and ending edges, in which none of the transverse folds should be present,

sensors communicatively coupled with said control unit for obtaining information on the presence of transverse folds in cardboard ready to be cut-off from the first web,
sensors communicatively coupled with said control unit for obtaining information on the presence of transverse folds in cardboard ready to be cut-off from the second web, and
structure for cutting-off the piece of cardboard from the first or the second web and forming the desired blank,
said central control unit further adapted for:
checking, if one of the transverse folds would be present in at least one of said areas if the piece of cardboard would be cut-off from the first web and performing, in case such transverse fold would be present, at least one of the following steps:
A) calculating a second blank layout for folding the same packaging, said second layout comprising transverse and longitudinal crease lines at different positions than the first layout,
B) enlarging at least one of the panels by shifting a respective transverse crease line and the ending edge,
C) checking, if one of the transverse folds would be present in at least one of said areas if the piece of cardboard would be cut-off from the second web, and, if none of the transverse folds are present in said areas, cutting-off the piece of cardboard from the second web.

12. The system according to claim 11 , further comprising:
structure for transporting a shipment set onto the blank, and
structure for folding a box from the blank around said shipment set, wherein the blank is produced by:
calculating, based on order information regarding the desired minimum dimensions of a current packaging, under predefined optimization criteria a first blank layout for folding the packaging, said blank layout comprising a leading edge and an ending edge and transverse and longitudi

Assignees

• Neopost Tech
• Quadient Tech France

Inventors

• Jonker Melle
• Visser Eelke
• Grushka Valery
• Wiersma Jelle
• Van Eijk Peter

Classifications

• B31B50/006 Primary

  Controlling; Regulating; Measuring; Improving safety · CPC title

• B31B50/10

  Feeding or positioning webs · CPC title

• B31B2120/102

  with a hinged cover · CPC title

• B31B50/25

  Surface scoring · CPC title

• B31B50/16

  Cutting webs · CPC title