Customized and made to order – with cutting-edge automation

Packaging solutions from Wellpack are many things, but they aren’t off the rack… or are they? The company is as well versed in mass customization as it is in developing and manufacturing short runs. An important component of Wellpack’s successful strategy is the company’s recent investment in highly automated Zünd cutting technology.

The 50 employees of Wellpack AG in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, are “creative in finding solutions and efficient in packaging”; and lately, one could also add: “exceedingly productive in cutting”. In early 2019, the company, which specializes in the manufacture of packaging systems, implemented digital cutting with a fully automated Zünd production line. At the heart of the system is a Zünd G3 cutter with extended beam clearance for processing packaging foam. Also included for completely automated material handling is the BHS150 Board Handling System.

Wellpack AG’s nearly 100-year old history has been turbulent. Founded in 1924 as a box company, it fell victim to a fire in 1948 and in 1951 rose again as Holz AG, quite literally like a phoenix from the ashes. The Wellpack of today was established in 1992 and in 2000 became one of 27 Palm Group affiliates. An SME operation backed by a global corporation offers advantages, a fact Andreas Kilchenmann, Managing Director of Wellpack AG, is well aware of: “In dealing with our customers, we can choose to act as an SME or as a global concern. Some of our major customers value our international footprint, while smaller companies prefer to see us as a medium-size enterprise». This approach seems to work well for Wellpack and its nearly 1,500 clients throughout Switzerland, many of whom are in the capital goods sector. “For these customers, we develop and manufacture highly customized combination packaging systems. Small series, from 1 to 1,000 units, make up our core competency”.

Wellpack also serves customers involved in heavily regulated industries such as aerospace and medical technology. These companies are confronted with mounting legal and regulatory requirements and the challenge of having all their processes meticulously documented. “With our state-of-the-art CAD systems, we can fully document each project, an important prerequisite for being able to serve these customers at all. The data workflow is a make-or-break proposition for us. We use the same software as our customers, which enables us to import their CAD data directly and, technically speaking, allows us to communicate with them eye to eye.”