The Drupa-launched range of devices is aimed at businesses that produce short-run digital packaging jobs and enables a single operator to feed die-cut blanks into the machines, which are then folded and glued and returned to the operator at the feeder. 

The range, which comprises the Boomer 4, 5 and 6, handles blank substrate widths of 50mm-450mm, 550mm and 650mm respectively, on up to 800gsm cartonboard and N, F or E-Flute. They can run straight-line blanks at 20-260m/min or 20,000 boxes per hour. Prices for the range start at around £96,000.

“This is a really unique machine in that usually these types of devices need two or three operators whereas this only needs one, so for short-run digital it’s a great investment,” said Ipack managing director, John Hall.  

“A lot of companies that produce work digitally would outsource this type of work because the machines tend to be fairly expensive and need a number of operators but with this, the investment as well as the operating costs are much lower,” he added.

Hall, who launched Stockport-based Ipack around six years ago, said he had seen the Boomerang range when it was launched at Drupa this year and he’d been in discussions with its South Korean manufacturer Hatten about bringing in to UK shores since then.  

He said feedback had been extremely positive while testing the market and that he expects the first UK installation to take place in early 2017.

Ipack Solutions supplies a range of consumables and used packaging machinery and has partnerships with packing and print machinery firm Brausse, part of the Bobst group, and Canadian firm Impack, which designs packing and feeding equipment for folding carton and corrugated folding and gluing machinery.