If you are a growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand or contract manufacturer, you may be dealing with a common set of challenges that are creating bottlenecks on the line:
When configuring a packaging line, managers will sometimes ask us to compare different machines we offer and where they can support their production goals. In this blog we will look at the fundamental operational differences between two heavyweights in our Spartan family: the Spartan Cartoner and the Wrap-Around Spartan.
While both automated packaging solutions share the same DNA, these systems solve completely different problems on your plant floor. Here is what this guide covers to help you map out your line:
The Wrap-Around Spartan is actually a specialized version of Econocorp’s Spartan Cartoner, re-engineered to automate the forming, loading, and sealing of wrap-around cases.
Built with the same rugged construction and compact footprint, both models deliver the reliability, flexibility, and efficiency that Econocorp equipment is known for. However, they handle entirely different stages of your line:
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The Spartan Cartoner takes individual items, like craft beverage cans or medical products, and loads them cleanly into paperboard or lightweight corrugated cartons or sleeves. It is built for presentation and shelf appeal, operating at a baseline speed of 40 cartons per minute with optional upgrades reaching up to 60 cartons per minute. |
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The Wrap-Around Spartan often handles downstream secondary packaging applications. It loads those finished retail units and securely wraps them into heavy-duty corrugated cardboard shipping cases or open-top trays. Running at speeds up to 15 cases, cartons, or trays per minute, this system ensures shipping protection, warehouse storage, and pallet stability. |
For facilities managing delicate or brittle products, product protection must be engineered at every step of the line. However, the type of protection shifts depending on which machine you deploy.
Many high-speed alternative systems rely on vertical drop-packing, where products are held on overhead trapdoors and dropped into an erected box via gravity. The resulting impact can fracture brittle items or scuff high-finish retail labels.
The Spartan mitigates risk by keeping your product on a flat plane, utilizing a controlled horizontal mechanical pusher to slide items sideways into an automatically erected carton blank. There is no drop and zero gravitational shock.
When your line transitions downstream, the Wrap-Around Spartan can keep your products secure. Traditional secondary case packers force a grouped bundle of finished retail cartons through open cardboard flaps, causing friction that can damage your primary packaging.
The Wrap-Around Spartan eliminates this sliding friction completely. It gently loads the bundle onto a flat blank and builds the box over the product. That way, your retail cartons never scrape against raw cardboard edges on their way into the case.
A cartoner and a case packer have fundamentally different structural goals for your packaging materials. The Spartan horizontal cartoner is focused on shelf appeal, manipulating lightweight paperboard to achieve crisp, flawless retail dimensions that look great to a consumer.
The Wrap-Around Spartan, by contrast, provides industrial stacking strength. When operations manually pack a grid of retail boxes into standard corrugated shipping cases, the outer boxes must be oversized so the flaps don't catch during manual insertion. This leaves empty air pockets (void space) inside your shipping crates. During transit, items shift within this void space, leading to dented consumer faces and collapsed pallets in the warehouse.
Because the Wrap-Around Spartan folds the corrugated blank with a glove-like, zero-clearance fit, it removes the air pockets entirely. The tight fit forces the retail cartons inside the case to provide structure for stacking while minimizing cardboard material waste.
Whether you are a co-packer managing a rotating door of contracts or a brand running multiple product sizes and flavor variations, machine downtime directly eats your ROI.
Both machines in the Spartan family are built around our user-friendly, limited tool changeover philosophy, ensuring a single operator can completely reconfigure the size configuration quickly. Where they differ is how their size ranges apply to your facility:
On a busy production floor, these systems work beautifully as a team. The Spartan cartoner can be rapidly adjusted to run various product variations, which then feed directly down a conveyor into the Wrap-Around Spartan. The secondary packaging system bundles them into standard shipping arrays or open retail-ready display trays.
Choosing the right point of entry comes down to identifying where your manual labor costs and production bottlenecks currently live:
Through the Econocorp Rapid Delivery Program, we can configure and deliver a Spartan Cartoner to your floor in 12 weeks. Contact us to learn more about this program as well as our fast delivery options for a Wrap-Around Spartan.
Whether deployed individually to erase a specific headache or paired together for end-to-end efficiency, the Spartan family delivers industrial-grade automation built to fit your floor, your budget, and your timeline.