Packaging OEM

From the Automate show floor to the packaging line, we’re seeing industrial automation evolve in real time. This week’s stories explore artificial intelligence, robotics, and the technologies shaping what’s next. Want early access to our curated On the Line newsletter? Subscribers receive it every Tuesday. Click here to sign up. Subscribe to the Packaging OEM newsletter Get the latest news, trends, and technology updates delivered straight to your inbox and make smarter packaging decisions.

Rockwell Automation is highlighting its 140ME Motor Protective Switching Device and its integration with the company’s EtherNet/IP In-cabinet Solution. The 140ME combines disconnect capability, magnetic short-circuit protection, electronic overload protection, and manual switching for motor control.

Packaging is a key way for brands to stand out from their competitors and to present an aesthetically pleasing design to customers. The craftsmanship of a rigid box is also critical to reliable deliveries, and automation plays a growing role at every stage, from assembly and fulfillment to delivery. Attention to detail is crucial to presentation, reliability, and sustainability. Let’s explore how modern packaging is developed and manufactured with the latest technologies.

The third-party logistics, or 3PL, sector is evolving, as e-commerce continues to rise, cost pressures grow, and consumer behavior shifts, noted WINIT Information Technology Co. The company last week said it is helping retailers across North America to compete in an increasingly complex cross-border retail market with its modular fulfillment platform, or MFP.

The role of the packaging OEM is no longer defined by commissioning. It’s defined by what comes next. Troubleshooting, recovery, workforce support, and digital technologies are now part of the equation as machine builders take a larger role in helping manufacturers keep operations moving throughout the life of the machine. That shift is reflected in Rockwell Automation’s OEM Advantage Playbook, which surveyed 500 OEM leaders across 17 countries.

End-users using flat-fee robotic services for packing, stacking and machine tending, eliminate related capital costs, engineering, automation specification, purchasing and maintenance, while lowering risks and training needs. Formic marks the opening of its new headquarters, showcasing robotics-as-a-service palletizing and automation workcells.

Some packaging challenges are easy to identify. Others require a closer look. Technologies such as computed tomography (CT) scanning, video monitoring, digital inspection, and radio frequency identification (RFID) help companies better understand what’s happening across packaging operations. Want early access to our curated On the Line newsletter? Subscribers get the first look every Tuesday via email. Click here to sign up.

We’re halfway through 2026. Before we turn the page to the second half of the year, we’re spotlighting six packaging stories and reports that generated the most views among our readers during the first six months of the year. Flexible packaging, 2D barcodes, artificial intelligence, programmable logic controllers, and custom equipment for end-of-line automation. Want early access to our curated On the Line newsletter? Subscribers receive it every Tuesday. Click here to sign up.

Sereact GmbH, which provides artificial intelligence-driven workcells for warehouse order picking, this week opened its U.S. headquarters in Charlestown, Mass. The company said its Cortex 2.0 software offers “One brain. Any robot.” CEO Ralf Gulde co-founded Sereact based on vision and embodied AI research out of the University of Stuttgart in 2021. “We wanted to make robots more intelligent and flexible,” he recalled during the grand opening.

There is a striking contrast between an industrial packaging plan from 30 years ago and one today. In the past, physical labor dominated the environment. Dozens of operators were forced to manually lift heavy sacks of fertilizers, minerals, or animal feed during their entire shifts. Today, the scenario is radically different. Bags glide smoothly along intelligent conveyor belts, and robotic arms stack loads with millimeter precision.