March 2, 2025 • 25 mins
New Sustainable Packaging machines and materials
Form'it!™ / Cut'it!™ / Decision Tower™ / Pad'it!™ / Lid'it!™ / FillPak Trident™ / Wrap'it! ™
What's the latest in sustainable packaging innovations from Ranpak?
How can you move into semi-automated packaging?
When are you ready for fully automated packaging equipment?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cory Connors (00:00):
Welcome to Sustainable Packaging
(00:01):
with Cory Connors.
Brodie Vander Dussen (00:03):
And I'm Brodie Vander Dussen.
Cory Connors (00:05):
We're so excited from Ranpak . He is the Global
Managing Director of Automation.
And you're going to be surprisedat how many new innovations and
systems Ranpak has coming outsoon or have recently come out.
what's going on there is a.
Total, change in the way thatthey're doing business, and
it's a dramatic improvement.
(00:27):
and things were great before.
you're gonna see a whole bunchof new options and ideas.
So very excitedto have Brian on.
Welcome, sir.
Bryan Boatner (00:35):
Great.
Thanks so much for having me.
Brodie Vander Dussen (00:37):
Well, this is, Unfortunately,
our first time meeting.
Fortunately, weget to start now.
but can you tell our listenersand maybe me a little bit
more about your background?
Bryan Boatner (00:46):
Sure.
yeah, I've been in theautomation and technology
industry for over 25 years.
actually, I started out asa manufacturing engineer.
I was always intrigued bythe show, how it's made.
And, how different thingsare manufactured and that's
what I, what I studied atschool and, had an initial,
job at G aircraft enginesas a manufacturing engineer.
(01:06):
but really the bulkof my career has been
spent in machine vision.
for about 20 years, I wasat Cognex Corporation in
a variety of differentroles, initially focused on
manufacturing automation, butthen switching over to logistics
and warehouse automation.
in.
In those roles at Cognex, wewere looking at every possible
process within the warehousewhere you could apply barcode
(01:28):
scanning or machine vision,and it gave me a really good
foundation for understandingthe flow through a warehouse
from, incoming goods receivingto put away to picking and
the various different ways youcan pick orders and then to
pack out and ultimately to,shipping and, and outbound.
After about 20 years atCognex in 2020, I, dipped
(01:49):
my toe into the watersof, the startup world.
there's a lot of, Ilive in the Boston area.
There's a lot of, roboticwarehouse automation,
companies here.
And, I was able to, move to,actually, I, in the last 4
years, I've been to 2 different,warehouse automation companies.
And, they're more focusedon picking automation.
And so I got a reallygood exposure to the
(02:12):
picking automationpart of the warehouse.
But then, in the last 2years, where I've been at
Ranpak have been all focusedon packaging automation.
And for me, it's really excitingbecause I feel like a lot of
my career has been focusedon studying all parts of the
process, really understandinghow a warehouse works, but
packaging automation, not onlyEnables you to provide more
(02:33):
efficiencies for the customers,but you're actually impacting
the actual good that they'reproducing and what's going to
show up in the customer's hands.
And, that combined with Ranpak'sfocus on sustainability.
It's really a uniqueposition to be into.
Bring new solutions forward,continue our innovation and
investment in, automationsolutions and sustainability
(02:55):
solutions and, launch newproducts and talk about them.
that's a brief historyon my background.
Brodie Vander Dussen (03:00):
Well, I'm excited to get into a little
bit more about new products andsome of the things that you guys
have coming out in this episode.
Bryan Boatner (03:06):
100%.
Cory Connors (03:09):
Me too.
Right before Brody goton, we were talking about,
my first, sale at OroraPackaging was a Ranpak paper
system, Ranpak TT machine.
So I think, it's, it was suchan easy thing to sell because
not only was it a cost savings.
You didn't have to sweep upafter your shift because you're
(03:31):
not using peanuts anymore.
And I actually had warehousepeople, shake my hand and
thank me for, and hand me theirbroom and say, thank you, sir.
We are so excited for this.
So what this is not a newthing for Ranpak , what you've
been doing is spent, I'vebeen in the industry 23 years.
(03:51):
I know I think Ranpak hasbeen around much longer
than that, but 50 years now.
Yeah.
Congratulations on that.
Sustainability is often seenas a trend, but I think Ranpak
has been doing it from day one.
Can you speak tothat a little bit?
Bryan Boatner (04:05):
Yeah, I think, it's one of the things
that really interested meabout coming to work here
is that, the identity thatthey have and always being
focused on sustainability.
And I think, if you look atsuccessful companies out there
that have, endured successover the long haul, it's been
those that, that have stayedcommitted to, Their purpose
(04:25):
and what they're all about.
And, if you want to have animpact and really, be credible
with companies in terms ofthe solutions that you're
bringing to market and theinnovations that you're focused
on to the extent that you'vealways been committed to it,
I think, just really helps.
Reinforce that message.
And, Rampak hascertainly, exhibited that
throughout their history.
(04:46):
I'm learning a lot about it as Igo, but, there's interestingly,
it's a, I mentioned this to,a couple other people that
I've talked with just aboutthe company and some of the
innovations, but, there's,There's, the TV show Cheers
had, the character Cliff Claven.
So Cliff Claven was actuallyplayed by John Ratzenberger.
So I always say this is like aCliff Claven ism about Rampak,
(05:08):
but John Ratzenberger was veryfocused on sustainability.
He was, it was veryimportant to him.
So after he.
Had his, success in Hollywood.
He actually purchased thecompany, called sizzle.
and it made this product thatwas competitive to those, the
peanuts that you mentionedwhere we had to sweep them up.
But this is a fullysustainable solution.
It was basically, compressedpieces of paper, and the
(05:30):
product was called sizzle.
And, he.
acquired it and got somemomentum going and built it
up to the point where Rampakultimately, acquired them and it
became a part of their portfoliofor a brief amount of time.
I always say that's mycliff clavinism about
Rampak is that they actuallypurchased a solution from,
the character that playedCliff Clavin on Cheers.
but it, that I think was about.
(05:50):
15 years ago, and, thehistory of Ranpak goes
back, beyond that 35 moreyears, and it's always been
focused on, fiber based,fully sustainable solutions
for the packaging industry.
so that's like point 1, butthe other thing that I like
to highlight is there's alwaysbeen a big focus on innovation.
So there's innovationand materials.
There's innovation inconverting technologies.
(06:13):
There's innovation and howdo you optimize pack space?
and more recently, there'sinnovations in automation.
And, that's is the managingdirector globally for
automation, working on thedifferent solutions, in
all of our global regions.
And we're not justfocused on automation.
one part of the warehousethat you can automate from
(06:33):
a packaging standpoint.
There's a whole, suite ofsolutions that we've been
able to pull together.
and they're not alljust automation focus.
There's also a focus onmachine vision again with
my history, 20 years ata machine vision company.
The fact that we do have visionbased technologies that can
help with efficiency, Okay.
But also help with an enhancedsustainability profile is I
(06:56):
think what really is our DNA.
It's our core.
part of our core values to focuson sustainability solutions and
ensure that the innovation thatwe're focused on is all, aligned
to our core mission of Providingmore and, I'd say providing
the most efficient and, themost breadth of sustainability
solutions on the market.
Cory Connors (07:18):
I think that it's an impressive thing to
see all the automation, all thehistory, everything is paper.
Everything's curbsiderecyclable and, recyclable
with the corrugated box.
And I think that's a, it's arefreshing thing in packaging.
Well done.
Bryan Boatner (07:34):
yeah, and, with paper, I've learned a lot about
sustainability since I've gottenhere, but, in terms of why is
paper such a great substrate?
Well, number 1, it'sinherently renewable,
and we source all of our.
Paper from FSC certifiedsources, so it's we're ensuring
that we're acquiring thatfrom sustainably forested,
(07:54):
from sustainable forests.
secondly, it is,it's recyclable.
and it's regularly recycledafter use different than
plastics, which, if you look atsome of the statistics on how
much of plastics are actuallyrecycled, it's actually between
5 and 7%, depending on whatstudies you're looking at.
Whereas, with paper, becauseit is curbside recyclable and
(08:16):
all of the local recycling.
Authorities, have, broad supportfor being able to recycle it.
It's up towards, 70 to80 percent recyclable.
And then, the final thingis that it is biodegradable.
if it doesn't happen to getrecycled, after a few months,
it's just, becomes, A partof the earth again, whereas
obviously with plastic thatcan be around for decades and
(08:37):
pollute waterways and just haveall sorts of negative effects.
yeah, it's been a focus fora long amount of time and,
the paper fiber really is themost sustainable substrate to
work with for those reasons.
Brodie Vander Dussen (08:50):
I want to touch a little bit more
about what you said aboutinnovation within material
and product optimization.
You have a new productcoming out called Pad'it!
Can tell us a little bitmore about what it is.
how was that sustainable.
Bryan Boatner (09:04):
certainly.
And you've probablynoticed all of our.
Products are namedby what they do.
So it actually makes itpretty easy to talk about
them because, Pad'it!Will place a, a cushioning
pad on the bottom of a carton.
it comes after a Form'it!Which forms the case or the
tray, that's being used for,the packaging operation.
(09:24):
And then after we put inthe pad, it'll go to a pack
station where the items will bepacked and then it goes to a.
Cut'it!When that is where we cut the
carton down and right size it.
in the context of thatwhole flow, Pad'it!
enhances sustainability.
Number one, by the factthat it uses the, our fiber
based, cushioning material.
(09:44):
So it's basically.
Getting a cushioningpad, placing it in the
bottom of a carton.
This is typically used bythose in those verticals where,
cushioning, for, cosmeticproducts or health and beauty
products is really paramount.
So that's really where it's seenthe most, traction, but, um.
so it's providing a sustainablesolution by virtue of the fact
(10:06):
that we're using a fiber basedmaterial for the cushioning.
But then, secondly,because it's a part of that
overall network of Form'it!, Pad'it! Cut'it!
And it's going to a device,a piece of automation that's
doing the right sizing,that's where we really
see the big sustainabilitybenefits because that.
Carton is being right sized.
So we're not shippinga bunch of air.
(10:27):
we actually sense the heightof the materials in the carton
before we height reduce it.
So we're always assuredthe maximum amount of void
reduction by virtue of howour automation process works.
so in that sense, it's, it'sa new product that we have, it
was, as a result of, customerdemand that we had heard from
some of our key customersthat were using, Form'it!
(10:48):
and Cut'it!, but wanted a way.
Okay.
Where we could automaticallyinsert the cushioning
pad into the carton.
So it's actually donewith a robotic inserter.
And then, it movesalong to the Cut'it!
where it's right sizedand, goes out to shipping.
the other thing I'd like tonote is, so that's one of our,
newer products that we've.
recently announced, but upcomingat pro mat, which is just in
(11:12):
a couple weeks, you'll seethe launch of paper wrap.
And so if you then take, ifyou go through that process,
form it, you form the case,pat it, you place the, the
cushioning pad in there.
Yeah, it goes to a manual packstation and then it goes to the
cut it where it's right size.
All of those cartons now need tobe palletized and shipped out.
and one of the big areas whereI think everyone has always
(11:34):
looked at single use plasticsbeing used extensively is in
that pallet wrapping processwhere you're using shrink
wrap plastic to wrap pallets.
And so what we've, Done isinvested in a new technology
where you can use paper basedwrapping material as opposed to
plastic based wrapping material.
(11:55):
And again, this is anothergreat example where we're, we're
providing efficiencies becausethere is a fully automated
process where it can handle,a pallet from a conveyor and
without any manual intervention,fully do the wrapping process,
but number 2, it uses thesepaper fibers and the particular,
Paper fiber that we're usingis 10 percent stretchable.
(12:20):
So there's been significant,research and development
done in this space to finda fiber that can actually
work well to do, this paperwrapping, because this is not
the 1st time the market hasseen this type of solution.
I do anticipate.
There is going to be someskepticism among our customer
base as to will this actuallyprovide the same stability
as plastic shrink wrap.
(12:40):
But number 1, because thepaper fiber is 10 percent
stretchable, that helps.
Secondly, there's a lot ofelectromechanical innovations as
to how we're doing the wrapping.
For example, number 1, we'reactually folding the paper at
the bottom to reinforce it.
Number 2, there's a coldglue that's being applied
as it's being wrapped.
(13:00):
So you have.
you know that strength beingreinforced upon every rap
that's being performed onthat pallet and then, number
three, there's a fair amountof mechanical engineering that
goes into, automatic tensioningof how, how you maintain that
tension without pulling ittoo hard that you're causing
a tear, but hard enough thatyou're really securing all
those items on the pallet.
(13:21):
And we have all those addressedSo really excited to
not only, show Pad'it!upcoming here, but also the
paper wrap solution, becauseI think the market is really
looking for a solution likethis, where you can save all
of that single use plasticwhile at the same time, having
an effective process thatsecures the load and you can
have confidence and maintainingshipment integrity as it goes
(13:45):
through the supply chain.
Brodie Vander Dussen (13:50):
And I think to like another benefit
of that, that maybe you haven'tmentioned, but it's definitely
something that I think peopleshould be thinking about is when
we talk about packaging, EPR,extended producer responsibility
laws, stretch wrap is consideredto be a covered material in some
of the states so far, and we'reexpecting it to be part of it.
It is considered packaging.
And plastic versus paper.
(14:11):
In this case, thisis a, it might.
Okay.
Might make sense to switchover when you're looking at
it through that lens as well.
Bryan Boatner (14:19):
Yeah.
No, that's certainly agreat point to call out.
It's a yet another option.
We can bring to thesecustomers to enable them
Brodie Vander Dussen (14:25):
to
Bryan Boatner (14:26):
conform to the newer regulations
that are coming out.
Brodie Vander (14:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Cory Connors (14:31):
Well said.
I was excited to go to yourfacility in Eigelshoven,
Holland, and get to seeall these machines working,
even some that we can't talkabout yet, but I think it
was really impressive to seethe machine that you were
talking about, and to see thedecision tower and the Trident
(14:52):
machine working in congruence.
Can you talk aboutthat innovation?
Because I think consumersand customers will be
really excited about it.
Bryan Boatner (15:01):
yeah.
So Decision Tower coupledwith our Trident and, a
converter is a great solution.
It's what I'd call asemi automated solution.
So it's more, it's for a lotof brownfield customers where
they're trying to see where theymight benefit from automation.
And this is a great, you1st step towards full
automation by employing asemi automated solution.
(15:22):
So Decision Tower coupled withTrident, what does that do?
1st step is Decision Tower. That's our vision system.
And it's a 2D and 3D basedcamera that can effectively
scan the contents ofwhatever's inside a carton.
And determine the amountof void in that carton.
So a lot of customers willtypically struggle with, either
(15:45):
under packing or over packingthe void fill on a carton.
The challenges with underpacking is that you're
sacrificing the cushioningand protection that
you're providing in thosematerials in the carton.
the drawback to overfillingis that, it's wasteful and
you're actually using material.
You don't have to becauseyou're over stuffing the carton.
The other issue might bethat there's conveyance
(16:07):
issues or packability issueswith an overfilled carton.
Decision Tower solves thatproblem by scanning the void
in the carton, communicating tothe to the trident converter.
Hey, this is how much paperthat needs to be distributed
to accurately fill thevoid within this carton.
And then from there, thecarton can be processed.
So it's still a manual process,but the semi automated nature
(16:30):
of it is that you have a visionsystem that as the carton
goes under the vision system,it's being triggered image
system takes image of what'sin the carton communicates
to the tried and exactly howmuch paper to distribute.
And then that can be passedalong to the operator.
So there's no judgment.
In terms of like,should I use more?
Should I use less?
It, it lessens the trainingtime for new operators just
(16:53):
because the system just works.
It's going to see what's theamount of void that's there
and just pass that along tothe operator to pack it out
and seal it up for shipment.
Cory Connors (17:02):
Incredible.
Yeah, it's exciting.
And you're right that oftenthat position is an entry level
position for many companiesand training is a steep curve.
Whereas this will be verysimple and make it much
easier for the newer employee.
Well, well done.
Yeah, great innovation.
Bryan Boatner (17:23):
And, labor is a lot of the
customers we talked to.
It's always on their mind.
they've, they train goodemployees that, you know, and
finally get them to a point.
And then, there's another DCthat opens in the area that's
offering, 3 more per hour.
And then you just havethis significant turnover.
inherently those jobs, youdon't have a lot of turnover
and you just, there's a highdemand for, For good, warehouse
(17:45):
associates and to the extentyou can find a solution that's
easy to train new peopleon the market's definitely
looking for them because ofthe turnover, in the industry.
Brodie Vander Dussen (17:55):
I imagine that's, a huge cost savings
as well as a, it's somethingthat just builds brand loyalty
to being able to have brandor brand pack, within each of
this sections of the process.
that's huge.
So we've talked about.
We've talked about pad it.
We've talked about form it.
We've talked about,there was another one.
Cut it.
Cut it.
(18:16):
tell me about Print'it!. What does that mean?
How does that fitwithin the process?
How is that sustainable?
Bryan Boatner (18:21):
yeah, certainly.
So Print'it! And all of our.
Our products are designed witha modular strategy in mind.
We recognize that everyone'swarehouse process is a
little bit different.
So we want to ensure that ifyou want to take advantage of
the full line of products thatwe offer, you can do that.
But also, if you want topick and choose, depending
on how your process islaid out, we enable.
(18:42):
You to do that as well.
So the where Print'it!Fits into the sequences
after the cut it.
So after we place the lidon the carton, printed
enables on demand printingfor, for the customers.
this is a big trend withinpackaging right now.
There's this, out of boxexperience that everyone's
focused on ensuring theycan provide the best
(19:03):
out of box experience.
Part of that is Just amaking sure that the, the
package doesn't show, showup, crumpled or damaged.
making sure that the contentsare not damaged, but also
there's a marketing effect ofreally wowing that customer
and reinforcing, a lot of theelements of the brand, to the
(19:24):
customer, when they have that.
that emotional responseto getting a package.
every day, when I'm workingfrom home, you'll have the,
Amazon and FedEx show up.
And, my kids are always, there'sthat, like, anticipation of
like, oh, what showed up?
Like, what did, whatdid mom and dad get us?
Or did I get my new shoesor whatever the case may be?
Right?
there.
There.
That's real and that'ssomething that I think a lot
(19:44):
of customers are trying toensure that they can continue
to achieve and see that resultwith their own customers.
Print'it!Enables this on demand printing.
So that if you wanted to get asdetailed as customizing each.
Package to, printing, a happybirthday message to someone
that's getting a package or,be able to print different
(20:05):
elements of a seasonalmarketing theme that you
change throughout the year.
Print'it! Enables you to dothat down to the box.
Now, we've got othersolutions out there.
Like, called multi lead, forexample, where you can, tie in
4 different leads to a cut it.
So that's typically more for3 PLS that have different
brands that they're trying tomanage through their facility.
(20:25):
And if they have brand a, it has1 lead brand B has another lead.
that's a solution that wehave, and that's there's a
place for that in the market.
But what's really exciting aboutprint it is you can customize
down to each box that's shipped.
So you tie that into your WMSwhere, the customer that it's
going to, maybe dependingon the region where you're
sending it, you want toapply different graphics or
(20:47):
if you want to enable them.
To put a birthday message orput a happy holidays message
on that carton, you have thefull capability to do that.
And it's not justa small printer.
it's a 12 inch wide printer.
It uses inkjet technology.
You can do really richgraphics, high resolution.
We're really excited about that.
(21:08):
We actually are planning toshow a demo where you scan a
QR code that can send a certainmessage and then we'll print
that message, live on demandat the trade show just to
demonstrate the flexibility andthe capability of the solution.
Brodie Vander D (21:21):
That's so cool.
We've talked on this podcasta little bit about the power
of social media and packaging.
I personally, if I findsomething cool, I post about
it just to my friends whodo not care, I think when
you have a big platforms orif there's something that's
customized to you, thislike out of box, unboxing
experience has really blown upon social media and it's been
this new wave of marketing.
(21:44):
It's not actually new.
It's just a new thing.
on what has always beendoor to door or, friend
to friend marketing.
So I think having something likethat where you could customize
per box for per person, perrecipient, whether that is a
happy birthday to a specificperson, I'm posting that if I
get something that says happybirthday, Brody, or something
(22:04):
that's specific to what Iordered I think that was.
It's a marketing benefitthat you're going to get
from something that's, maybeyou wouldn't consider to
be something that marketingis not considering when
they talk about like theouter box, so that's huge.
I'm bummed to miss that tradeshow to see that in person,
but hopefully you'll find avideo online or something.
(22:25):
Maybe Corey will take one.
Bryan Boatner (22:27):
For sure, there will be no shortage of those.
I can assure you.
And, it's interesting.
You bring up the point about,marketing because with some
of our beta customers thatwe're trialing this with,
some of them are, three PLSand fulfillment houses that
are working with a lot ofdifferent brands and it's really
changing the business modelof what they do as fulfillment
because now they have, you canalmost think of it as like a,
(22:49):
as a, as, However, many itemsthey're shipping out per day.
Each one of those is a littlemini billboard and it's going
to, an exact customer wherethey know, from a marketing
standpoint, there's a lotof value there because if,
someone's ordering, somehealth food that, they
might be interested in, thelatest, sneaker promotion
from a, from a shoe brand.
one of these fulfillment housesis actually selling, Advertising
(23:11):
space on the carton thatthey're shipping to a customer
and by using printed theycan, print out a QR code and
a message that says, hey, save15 percent at, shoes dot com or
whatever the website might be.
And, there's really anenhanced business model.
That's a result of justprinting technology, which
is way more than justa personalized message.
And now it's actually avehicle for these 3 PLS to
(23:34):
have another revenue streamby virtue of the innovation
that we have with the printed.
10 technology.
Cory Connors (23:40):
That's
Brodie Vander Dussen (23:40):
amazing.
Cory Connors (23:42):
packaging is the final frontier for advertising.
I really believe that it is.
It is the most intimateexperience for a consumer.
they are handlingit in their hands.
They're going to havethat opening experience.
Like you said, that out ofbox and it's such a. Such an
important part of our livesnow, as people get things
(24:03):
delivered to their housesmore and more, and go to the
retail with less and less.
this is exciting.
I did want to reiterate thefact that we'll be at Promat.
that is March 17ththrough the 20th.
I'll be there on the 17th.
And, if you're going tothe show, you can actually
come to the Rampak boothand see this in action.
(24:25):
You can type your messageon your own, lid and, and
I think you get to takeit home as a souvenir.
So this is a reallyexciting innovation and be,
come see us at the show.
Bryan Boatner (24:38):
Yeah, we're really excited to
show it off and, wouldwelcome you to the booth
if you're attending ProMAT.
Brodie Vander Dussen (24:42):
if you're not going to ProMAT,
like me, unfortunately, what'sthe best way to get in touch?
How do I get my ownbox that says Happy
Birthday Brodie in my
Bryan Boatner (24:51):
production line?
we have you covered so, you can,you can find us obviously at
Ranpak . com and also via email.
It's automation at Ranpak.
com and that's, so automationK. com and, we'll be happy
to help you out and, letyou know where a Print'it!
Might fit into your,warehouse process.
Brodie Vander Dussen (25:12):
That's
Bryan Boatner (25:12):
great.
Cory Connors (25:13):
so much, Brian.
Appreciate it.
All right.
Thank you.
Welcome to Sustainable Packaging
(00:01):
with Cory Connors.
Brodie Vander Dussen (00:03):
And I'm Brodie Vander Dussen.
Cory Connors (00:05):
We're so excited from Ranpak . He is the Global
Managing Director of Automation.
And you're going to be surprisedat how many new innovations and
systems Ranpak has coming outsoon or have recently come out.
what's going on there is a.
Total, change in the way thatthey're doing business, and
it's a dramatic improvement.
(00:27):
and things were great before.
you're gonna see a whole bunchof new options and ideas.
So very excitedto have Brian on.
Welcome, sir.
Bryan Boatner (00:35):
Great.
Thanks so much for having me.
Brodie Vander Dussen (00:37):
Well, this is, Unfortunately,
our first time meeting.
Fortunately, weget to start now.
but can you tell our listenersand maybe me a little bit
more about your background?
Bryan Boatner (00:46):
Sure.
yeah, I've been in theautomation and technology
industry for over 25 years.
actually, I started out asa manufacturing engineer.
I was always intrigued bythe show, how it's made.
And, how different thingsare manufactured and that's
what I, what I studied atschool and, had an initial,
job at G aircraft enginesas a manufacturing engineer.
(01:06):
but really the bulkof my career has been
spent in machine vision.
for about 20 years, I wasat Cognex Corporation in
a variety of differentroles, initially focused on
manufacturing automation, butthen switching over to logistics
and warehouse automation.
in.
In those roles at Cognex, wewere looking at every possible
process within the warehousewhere you could apply barcode
(01:28):
scanning or machine vision,and it gave me a really good
foundation for understandingthe flow through a warehouse
from, incoming goods receivingto put away to picking and
the various different ways youcan pick orders and then to
pack out and ultimately to,shipping and, and outbound.
After about 20 years atCognex in 2020, I, dipped
(01:49):
my toe into the watersof, the startup world.
there's a lot of, Ilive in the Boston area.
There's a lot of, roboticwarehouse automation,
companies here.
And, I was able to, move to,actually, I, in the last 4
years, I've been to 2 different,warehouse automation companies.
And, they're more focusedon picking automation.
And so I got a reallygood exposure to the
(02:12):
picking automationpart of the warehouse.
But then, in the last 2years, where I've been at
Ranpak have been all focusedon packaging automation.
And for me, it's really excitingbecause I feel like a lot of
my career has been focusedon studying all parts of the
process, really understandinghow a warehouse works, but
packaging automation, not onlyEnables you to provide more
(02:33):
efficiencies for the customers,but you're actually impacting
the actual good that they'reproducing and what's going to
show up in the customer's hands.
And, that combined with Ranpak'sfocus on sustainability.
It's really a uniqueposition to be into.
Bring new solutions forward,continue our innovation and
investment in, automationsolutions and sustainability
(02:55):
solutions and, launch newproducts and talk about them.
that's a brief historyon my background.
Brodie Vander Dussen (03:00):
Well, I'm excited to get into a little
bit more about new products andsome of the things that you guys
have coming out in this episode.
Bryan Boatner (03:06):
100%.
Cory Connors (03:09):
Me too.
Right before Brody goton, we were talking about,
my first, sale at OroraPackaging was a Ranpak paper
system, Ranpak TT machine.
So I think, it's, it was suchan easy thing to sell because
not only was it a cost savings.
You didn't have to sweep upafter your shift because you're
(03:31):
not using peanuts anymore.
And I actually had warehousepeople, shake my hand and
thank me for, and hand me theirbroom and say, thank you, sir.
We are so excited for this.
So what this is not a newthing for Ranpak , what you've
been doing is spent, I'vebeen in the industry 23 years.
(03:51):
I know I think Ranpak hasbeen around much longer
than that, but 50 years now.
Yeah.
Congratulations on that.
Sustainability is often seenas a trend, but I think Ranpak
has been doing it from day one.
Can you speak tothat a little bit?
Bryan Boatner (04:05):
Yeah, I think, it's one of the things
that really interested meabout coming to work here
is that, the identity thatthey have and always being
focused on sustainability.
And I think, if you look atsuccessful companies out there
that have, endured successover the long haul, it's been
those that, that have stayedcommitted to, Their purpose
(04:25):
and what they're all about.
And, if you want to have animpact and really, be credible
with companies in terms ofthe solutions that you're
bringing to market and theinnovations that you're focused
on to the extent that you'vealways been committed to it,
I think, just really helps.
Reinforce that message.
And, Rampak hascertainly, exhibited that
throughout their history.
(04:46):
I'm learning a lot about it as Igo, but, there's interestingly,
it's a, I mentioned this to,a couple other people that
I've talked with just aboutthe company and some of the
innovations, but, there's,There's, the TV show Cheers
had, the character Cliff Claven.
So Cliff Claven was actuallyplayed by John Ratzenberger.
So I always say this is like aCliff Claven ism about Rampak,
(05:08):
but John Ratzenberger was veryfocused on sustainability.
He was, it was veryimportant to him.
So after he.
Had his, success in Hollywood.
He actually purchased thecompany, called sizzle.
and it made this product thatwas competitive to those, the
peanuts that you mentionedwhere we had to sweep them up.
But this is a fullysustainable solution.
It was basically, compressedpieces of paper, and the
(05:30):
product was called sizzle.
And, he.
acquired it and got somemomentum going and built it
up to the point where Rampakultimately, acquired them and it
became a part of their portfoliofor a brief amount of time.
I always say that's mycliff clavinism about
Rampak is that they actuallypurchased a solution from,
the character that playedCliff Clavin on Cheers.
but it, that I think was about.
(05:50):
15 years ago, and, thehistory of Ranpak goes
back, beyond that 35 moreyears, and it's always been
focused on, fiber based,fully sustainable solutions
for the packaging industry.
so that's like point 1, butthe other thing that I like
to highlight is there's alwaysbeen a big focus on innovation.
So there's innovationand materials.
There's innovation inconverting technologies.
(06:13):
There's innovation and howdo you optimize pack space?
and more recently, there'sinnovations in automation.
And, that's is the managingdirector globally for
automation, working on thedifferent solutions, in
all of our global regions.
And we're not justfocused on automation.
one part of the warehousethat you can automate from
(06:33):
a packaging standpoint.
There's a whole, suite ofsolutions that we've been
able to pull together.
and they're not alljust automation focus.
There's also a focus onmachine vision again with
my history, 20 years ata machine vision company.
The fact that we do have visionbased technologies that can
help with efficiency, Okay.
But also help with an enhancedsustainability profile is I
(06:56):
think what really is our DNA.
It's our core.
part of our core values to focuson sustainability solutions and
ensure that the innovation thatwe're focused on is all, aligned
to our core mission of Providingmore and, I'd say providing
the most efficient and, themost breadth of sustainability
solutions on the market.
Cory Connors (07:18):
I think that it's an impressive thing to
see all the automation, all thehistory, everything is paper.
Everything's curbsiderecyclable and, recyclable
with the corrugated box.
And I think that's a, it's arefreshing thing in packaging.
Well done.
Bryan Boatner (07:34):
yeah, and, with paper, I've learned a lot about
sustainability since I've gottenhere, but, in terms of why is
paper such a great substrate?
Well, number 1, it'sinherently renewable,
and we source all of our.
Paper from FSC certifiedsources, so it's we're ensuring
that we're acquiring thatfrom sustainably forested,
(07:54):
from sustainable forests.
secondly, it is,it's recyclable.
and it's regularly recycledafter use different than
plastics, which, if you look atsome of the statistics on how
much of plastics are actuallyrecycled, it's actually between
5 and 7%, depending on whatstudies you're looking at.
Whereas, with paper, becauseit is curbside recyclable and
(08:16):
all of the local recycling.
Authorities, have, broad supportfor being able to recycle it.
It's up towards, 70 to80 percent recyclable.
And then, the final thingis that it is biodegradable.
if it doesn't happen to getrecycled, after a few months,
it's just, becomes, A partof the earth again, whereas
obviously with plastic thatcan be around for decades and
(08:37):
pollute waterways and just haveall sorts of negative effects.
yeah, it's been a focus fora long amount of time and,
the paper fiber really is themost sustainable substrate to
work with for those reasons.
Brodie Vander Dussen (08:50):
I want to touch a little bit more
about what you said aboutinnovation within material
and product optimization.
You have a new productcoming out called Pad'it!
Can tell us a little bitmore about what it is.
how was that sustainable.
Bryan Boatner (09:04):
certainly.
And you've probablynoticed all of our.
Products are namedby what they do.
So it actually makes itpretty easy to talk about
them because, Pad'it!Will place a, a cushioning
pad on the bottom of a carton.
it comes after a Form'it!Which forms the case or the
tray, that's being used for,the packaging operation.
(09:24):
And then after we put inthe pad, it'll go to a pack
station where the items will bepacked and then it goes to a.
Cut'it!When that is where we cut the
carton down and right size it.
in the context of thatwhole flow, Pad'it!
enhances sustainability.
Number one, by the factthat it uses the, our fiber
based, cushioning material.
(09:44):
So it's basically.
Getting a cushioningpad, placing it in the
bottom of a carton.
This is typically used bythose in those verticals where,
cushioning, for, cosmeticproducts or health and beauty
products is really paramount.
So that's really where it's seenthe most, traction, but, um.
so it's providing a sustainablesolution by virtue of the fact
(10:06):
that we're using a fiber basedmaterial for the cushioning.
But then, secondly,because it's a part of that
overall network of Form'it!, Pad'it! Cut'it!
And it's going to a device,a piece of automation that's
doing the right sizing,that's where we really
see the big sustainabilitybenefits because that.
Carton is being right sized.
So we're not shippinga bunch of air.
(10:27):
we actually sense the heightof the materials in the carton
before we height reduce it.
So we're always assuredthe maximum amount of void
reduction by virtue of howour automation process works.
so in that sense, it's, it'sa new product that we have, it
was, as a result of, customerdemand that we had heard from
some of our key customersthat were using, Form'it!
(10:48):
and Cut'it!, but wanted a way.
Okay.
Where we could automaticallyinsert the cushioning
pad into the carton.
So it's actually donewith a robotic inserter.
And then, it movesalong to the Cut'it!
where it's right sizedand, goes out to shipping.
the other thing I'd like tonote is, so that's one of our,
newer products that we've.
recently announced, but upcomingat pro mat, which is just in
(11:12):
a couple weeks, you'll seethe launch of paper wrap.
And so if you then take, ifyou go through that process,
form it, you form the case,pat it, you place the, the
cushioning pad in there.
Yeah, it goes to a manual packstation and then it goes to the
cut it where it's right size.
All of those cartons now need tobe palletized and shipped out.
and one of the big areas whereI think everyone has always
(11:34):
looked at single use plasticsbeing used extensively is in
that pallet wrapping processwhere you're using shrink
wrap plastic to wrap pallets.
And so what we've, Done isinvested in a new technology
where you can use paper basedwrapping material as opposed to
plastic based wrapping material.
(11:55):
And again, this is anothergreat example where we're, we're
providing efficiencies becausethere is a fully automated
process where it can handle,a pallet from a conveyor and
without any manual intervention,fully do the wrapping process,
but number 2, it uses thesepaper fibers and the particular,
Paper fiber that we're usingis 10 percent stretchable.
(12:20):
So there's been significant,research and development
done in this space to finda fiber that can actually
work well to do, this paperwrapping, because this is not
the 1st time the market hasseen this type of solution.
I do anticipate.
There is going to be someskepticism among our customer
base as to will this actuallyprovide the same stability
as plastic shrink wrap.
(12:40):
But number 1, because thepaper fiber is 10 percent
stretchable, that helps.
Secondly, there's a lot ofelectromechanical innovations as
to how we're doing the wrapping.
For example, number 1, we'reactually folding the paper at
the bottom to reinforce it.
Number 2, there's a coldglue that's being applied
as it's being wrapped.
(13:00):
So you have.
you know that strength beingreinforced upon every rap
that's being performed onthat pallet and then, number
three, there's a fair amountof mechanical engineering that
goes into, automatic tensioningof how, how you maintain that
tension without pulling ittoo hard that you're causing
a tear, but hard enough thatyou're really securing all
those items on the pallet.
(13:21):
And we have all those addressedSo really excited to
not only, show Pad'it!upcoming here, but also the
paper wrap solution, becauseI think the market is really
looking for a solution likethis, where you can save all
of that single use plasticwhile at the same time, having
an effective process thatsecures the load and you can
have confidence and maintainingshipment integrity as it goes
(13:45):
through the supply chain.
Brodie Vander Dussen (13:50):
And I think to like another benefit
of that, that maybe you haven'tmentioned, but it's definitely
something that I think peopleshould be thinking about is when
we talk about packaging, EPR,extended producer responsibility
laws, stretch wrap is consideredto be a covered material in some
of the states so far, and we'reexpecting it to be part of it.
It is considered packaging.
And plastic versus paper.
(14:11):
In this case, thisis a, it might.
Okay.
Might make sense to switchover when you're looking at
it through that lens as well.
Bryan Boatner (14:19):
Yeah.
No, that's certainly agreat point to call out.
It's a yet another option.
We can bring to thesecustomers to enable them
Brodie Vander Dussen (14:25):
to
Bryan Boatner (14:26):
conform to the newer regulations
that are coming out.
Brodie Vander (14:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Cory Connors (14:31):
Well said.
I was excited to go to yourfacility in Eigelshoven,
Holland, and get to seeall these machines working,
even some that we can't talkabout yet, but I think it
was really impressive to seethe machine that you were
talking about, and to see thedecision tower and the Trident
(14:52):
machine working in congruence.
Can you talk aboutthat innovation?
Because I think consumersand customers will be
really excited about it.
Bryan Boatner (15:01):
yeah.
So Decision Tower coupledwith our Trident and, a
converter is a great solution.
It's what I'd call asemi automated solution.
So it's more, it's for a lotof brownfield customers where
they're trying to see where theymight benefit from automation.
And this is a great, you1st step towards full
automation by employing asemi automated solution.
(15:22):
So Decision Tower coupled withTrident, what does that do?
1st step is Decision Tower. That's our vision system.
And it's a 2D and 3D basedcamera that can effectively
scan the contents ofwhatever's inside a carton.
And determine the amountof void in that carton.
So a lot of customers willtypically struggle with, either
(15:45):
under packing or over packingthe void fill on a carton.
The challenges with underpacking is that you're
sacrificing the cushioningand protection that
you're providing in thosematerials in the carton.
the drawback to overfillingis that, it's wasteful and
you're actually using material.
You don't have to becauseyou're over stuffing the carton.
The other issue might bethat there's conveyance
(16:07):
issues or packability issueswith an overfilled carton.
Decision Tower solves thatproblem by scanning the void
in the carton, communicating tothe to the trident converter.
Hey, this is how much paperthat needs to be distributed
to accurately fill thevoid within this carton.
And then from there, thecarton can be processed.
So it's still a manual process,but the semi automated nature
(16:30):
of it is that you have a visionsystem that as the carton
goes under the vision system,it's being triggered image
system takes image of what'sin the carton communicates
to the tried and exactly howmuch paper to distribute.
And then that can be passedalong to the operator.
So there's no judgment.
In terms of like,should I use more?
Should I use less?
It, it lessens the trainingtime for new operators just
(16:53):
because the system just works.
It's going to see what's theamount of void that's there
and just pass that along tothe operator to pack it out
and seal it up for shipment.
Cory Connors (17:02):
Incredible.
Yeah, it's exciting.
And you're right that oftenthat position is an entry level
position for many companiesand training is a steep curve.
Whereas this will be verysimple and make it much
easier for the newer employee.
Well, well done.
Yeah, great innovation.
Bryan Boatner (17:23):
And, labor is a lot of the
customers we talked to.
It's always on their mind.
they've, they train goodemployees that, you know, and
finally get them to a point.
And then, there's another DCthat opens in the area that's
offering, 3 more per hour.
And then you just havethis significant turnover.
inherently those jobs, youdon't have a lot of turnover
and you just, there's a highdemand for, For good, warehouse
(17:45):
associates and to the extentyou can find a solution that's
easy to train new peopleon the market's definitely
looking for them because ofthe turnover, in the industry.
Brodie Vander Dussen (17:55):
I imagine that's, a huge cost savings
as well as a, it's somethingthat just builds brand loyalty
to being able to have brandor brand pack, within each of
this sections of the process.
that's huge.
So we've talked about.
We've talked about pad it.
We've talked about form it.
We've talked about,there was another one.
Cut it.
Cut it.
(18:16):
tell me about Print'it!. What does that mean?
How does that fitwithin the process?
How is that sustainable?
Bryan Boatner (18:21):
yeah, certainly.
So Print'it! And all of our.
Our products are designed witha modular strategy in mind.
We recognize that everyone'swarehouse process is a
little bit different.
So we want to ensure that ifyou want to take advantage of
the full line of products thatwe offer, you can do that.
But also, if you want topick and choose, depending
on how your process islaid out, we enable.
(18:42):
You to do that as well.
So the where Print'it!Fits into the sequences
after the cut it.
So after we place the lidon the carton, printed
enables on demand printingfor, for the customers.
this is a big trend withinpackaging right now.
There's this, out of boxexperience that everyone's
focused on ensuring theycan provide the best
(19:03):
out of box experience.
Part of that is Just amaking sure that the, the
package doesn't show, showup, crumpled or damaged.
making sure that the contentsare not damaged, but also
there's a marketing effect ofreally wowing that customer
and reinforcing, a lot of theelements of the brand, to the
(19:24):
customer, when they have that.
that emotional responseto getting a package.
every day, when I'm workingfrom home, you'll have the,
Amazon and FedEx show up.
And, my kids are always, there'sthat, like, anticipation of
like, oh, what showed up?
Like, what did, whatdid mom and dad get us?
Or did I get my new shoesor whatever the case may be?
Right?
there.
There.
That's real and that'ssomething that I think a lot
(19:44):
of customers are trying toensure that they can continue
to achieve and see that resultwith their own customers.
Print'it!Enables this on demand printing.
So that if you wanted to get asdetailed as customizing each.
Package to, printing, a happybirthday message to someone
that's getting a package or,be able to print different
(20:05):
elements of a seasonalmarketing theme that you
change throughout the year.
Print'it! Enables you to dothat down to the box.
Now, we've got othersolutions out there.
Like, called multi lead, forexample, where you can, tie in
4 different leads to a cut it.
So that's typically more for3 PLS that have different
brands that they're trying tomanage through their facility.
(20:25):
And if they have brand a, it has1 lead brand B has another lead.
that's a solution that wehave, and that's there's a
place for that in the market.
But what's really exciting aboutprint it is you can customize
down to each box that's shipped.
So you tie that into your WMSwhere, the customer that it's
going to, maybe dependingon the region where you're
sending it, you want toapply different graphics or
(20:47):
if you want to enable them.
To put a birthday message orput a happy holidays message
on that carton, you have thefull capability to do that.
And it's not justa small printer.
it's a 12 inch wide printer.
It uses inkjet technology.
You can do really richgraphics, high resolution.
We're really excited about that.
(21:08):
We actually are planning toshow a demo where you scan a
QR code that can send a certainmessage and then we'll print
that message, live on demandat the trade show just to
demonstrate the flexibility andthe capability of the solution.
Brodie Vander D (21:21):
That's so cool.
We've talked on this podcasta little bit about the power
of social media and packaging.
I personally, if I findsomething cool, I post about
it just to my friends whodo not care, I think when
you have a big platforms orif there's something that's
customized to you, thislike out of box, unboxing
experience has really blown upon social media and it's been
this new wave of marketing.
(21:44):
It's not actually new.
It's just a new thing.
on what has always beendoor to door or, friend
to friend marketing.
So I think having something likethat where you could customize
per box for per person, perrecipient, whether that is a
happy birthday to a specificperson, I'm posting that if I
get something that says happybirthday, Brody, or something
(22:04):
that's specific to what Iordered I think that was.
It's a marketing benefitthat you're going to get
from something that's, maybeyou wouldn't consider to
be something that marketingis not considering when
they talk about like theouter box, so that's huge.
I'm bummed to miss that tradeshow to see that in person,
but hopefully you'll find avideo online or something.
(22:25):
Maybe Corey will take one.
Bryan Boatner (22:27):
For sure, there will be no shortage of those.
I can assure you.
And, it's interesting.
You bring up the point about,marketing because with some
of our beta customers thatwe're trialing this with,
some of them are, three PLSand fulfillment houses that
are working with a lot ofdifferent brands and it's really
changing the business modelof what they do as fulfillment
because now they have, you canalmost think of it as like a,
(22:49):
as a, as, However, many itemsthey're shipping out per day.
Each one of those is a littlemini billboard and it's going
to, an exact customer wherethey know, from a marketing
standpoint, there's a lotof value there because if,
someone's ordering, somehealth food that, they
might be interested in, thelatest, sneaker promotion
from a, from a shoe brand.
one of these fulfillment housesis actually selling, Advertising
(23:11):
space on the carton thatthey're shipping to a customer
and by using printed theycan, print out a QR code and
a message that says, hey, save15 percent at, shoes dot com or
whatever the website might be.
And, there's really anenhanced business model.
That's a result of justprinting technology, which
is way more than justa personalized message.
And now it's actually avehicle for these 3 PLS to
(23:34):
have another revenue streamby virtue of the innovation
that we have with the printed.
10 technology.
Cory Connors (23:40):
That's
Brodie Vander Dussen (23:40):
amazing.
Cory Connors (23:42):
packaging is the final frontier for advertising.
I really believe that it is.
It is the most intimateexperience for a consumer.
they are handlingit in their hands.
They're going to havethat opening experience.
Like you said, that out ofbox and it's such a. Such an
important part of our livesnow, as people get things
(24:03):
delivered to their housesmore and more, and go to the
retail with less and less.
this is exciting.
I did want to reiterate thefact that we'll be at Promat.
that is March 17ththrough the 20th.
I'll be there on the 17th.
And, if you're going tothe show, you can actually
come to the Rampak boothand see this in action.
(24:25):
You can type your messageon your own, lid and, and
I think you get to takeit home as a souvenir.
So this is a reallyexciting innovation and be,
come see us at the show.
Bryan Boatner (24:38):
Yeah, we're really excited to
show it off and, wouldwelcome you to the booth
if you're attending ProMAT.
Brodie Vander Dussen (24:42):
if you're not going to ProMAT,
like me, unfortunately, what'sthe best way to get in touch?
How do I get my ownbox that says Happy
Birthday Brodie in my
Bryan Boatner (24:51):
production line?
we have you covered so, you can,you can find us obviously at
Ranpak . com and also via email.
It's automation at Ranpak.
com and that's, so automationK. com and, we'll be happy
to help you out and, letyou know where a Print'it!
Might fit into your,warehouse process.
Brodie Vander Dussen (25:12):
That's
Bryan Boatner (25:12):
great.
Cory Connors (25:13):
so much, Brian.
Appreciate it.
All right.
Thank you.
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