mk North America displayed its shuttle system for simple pick-and-place operations. It’s capable of moving small boxes and parcels for packaging and is made possible through a collaboration between mk and Igus’ Rbtx platform. Sarah Wynn
A customized approach to material handling
Sarah Wynn • Senior Editor
From pick-and-place to robotic add-ons, mk North America’s design to order conveyors fit into any facility.
When it comes to conveyor systems, one size does not fit all. From the layout to the load capacity and even the material choice based on the environment, manufacturers need the ability to modify the material handling machine to meet specific needs.
Known for its customizable solutions, mk North America showcased a wide range of material handling systems for packaging at Automate 2025 in Detroit.
The company, headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut, displayed three adaptable offerings at the show, including a shuttle system with robotic elements, a flexible chain conveyor for medium-sized goods, and a recirculating pallet system.
“One thing we pride ourselves on is the design to order based on what the
customer needs, building out exactly the cell and system our customers want in their facility,” said Michael Zampano, mechanical project engineer at mk North America, in an interview with Packaging OEM.
To assist machine builders and manufacturers with the smooth integration of its equipment, mk North America also offers design and support services.
Shuttle system for pick-and-place operations
The company’s shuttle system is designed for simple pick-and-place operations. It’s capable of moving small boxes and parcels in packaging and e-commerce environments, and is made
possible through a collaboration between mk and Igus’ Rbtx platform.
It features mk’s flat belt conveyor feeding the shuttle, which includes the company’s LZR timing belt and an internal drive roller. From there, the box moves down a plastic modular belt conveyor, which features a streamlined design and is resistant to wear and tear.
“The beauty of this design is that it’s showing off three different material handling solutions,” said Scott Blais Jr., mk’s sales and development manager, during a live demo.
The system also offers sustainability benefits by reducing energy consumption.
“It’s an energy-efficient machine, it’s recycling air right now from the environment,” explained Blais. “As long
Optimizing pallet movement
as you can power the robot, you can get the air.”
It can be integrated seamlessly into existing lines and typically takes three to four weeks to commission.
In addition, mk displayed its recirculating pallet system, the SPU 2040, which works in any application where two machines need to be combined.
Custom conveyor integration with Igus
Blais noted that mk and Igus have a long-standing relationship. Through that partnership, they’re able to provide customizable conveyors with robotic capabilities.
“The beautiful part about what Rbtx and Igus are doing, in conjunction with our conveyors, is that if you’re a creative mind, or an engineering mind, the world is your oyster,” said Blais.
Flexible medium-duty pallet conveyor
Also featured was mk’s VersaFlex AP10 pallet conveyor, engineered for mediumduty pallet-handling applications.
“VersaFlex is our tabletop chain conveyor system that we offer pallet systems and general conveyance for packaging, small parts, and even finished parts,” said Zampano.
It features a stop setup with singulation and lift-and-locate technology, as it can properly align with machine operations and various setups.
“This is for applications where parts are not massive, but still have a little bit of weight,” said Zampano. “This system can handle up to 60 pounds per pallet.”
“The unique thing about this is that it allows the pallets to recirculate on the underside of the conveyor and return to the operator pick station without needing a separate return conveyor for the pallet,” said Cory Santor, inside sales manager at mk North America.
It’s available in two different chain widths, which are selected based on the specific pallet size.
“This saves a lot of space in your footprint, not needing any type of return track,” said Santor. “It’s done through the use of pneumatic stops and lift and locate.”
The company said it can also be used to slash downtime in a facility.
“The operator has the chance to quickly load and go do something else, compared to asynchronous operation, where they would have to place a part each time,” said Santor. “The conveyor indexes up the position, allowing them to load and move about the facility to do other operations.”
It features easy integration, doesn’t require a PLC, and has a positioning accuracy of plus or minus 0.2 millimeters. This system tends to take about 10 weeks to commission.
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The company showcased VersaFlex with a racetrack loop to highlight the variety of positions machine builders can utilize, along with different turn orientations.
“This is basically a turnkey system,” said Santor. “It can be brought into a facility without needing extra equipment.”
Sarah Wynn
Working with machine builders
mk collaborates with machine builders and OEMs to provide the correct machine for their specific needs, and the company guides the customer to the proper solution for their project.
“When it comes to OEMs, I think we’re a fantastic partner because we have such a large breadth of product offerings. We can a la carte the solution to meet their unique machinery and equipment,” Blais said.
Digital access for machinery at your fingertips
To keep operators updated with information about mk’s equipment, the company uses QR codes on each machine so users can access data by using their smartphones.
“There’s a QR code that brings you right to the product page on our website, including all the documentation you need for service, along with the drawings themselves and any other wiring or mk-related documents you may need,” said Zampano.
It’s part of a transformation in packaging that’s shifting the industry towards digital, including the adoption of 2D barcodes that are similar to the QR codes mk uses on its machines.
Made in America
Except for the cobot on display, all mk’s equipment featured at Automate was assembled using their own aluminum extrusion profiles.
“We have a 27-year relationship with an extruder in the Northeast – very strong ties,” said Blais. “Maybe the most impressive thing is that we stock the most common 40% of those profiles and do all cutting in-house. From initial concept to shipment, everything comes right out of Connecticut.”
The company says it transforms these raw materials into fully automated assemblies, deployed in systems across North America. OEM
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Mk North America’s recirculating pallet system works in any application where two machines need to be combined. It’s available in two different chain widths. Sarah Wynn
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Designing the next-generation sustainable package
Stephanie Neil • Editorial Director
Amcor teams up with Dassault Systèmes to create lightweight, recyclable packaging that maintains performance.
If you’ve had a sports drink or opened a pill bottle, chances are, you’ve held a plastic container designed and produced by Amcor Rigid Packaging. Chances are, too, that the plastic bottles — which Amcor produces for food, beverage, healthcare, and home and personal care products — have been designed with sustainability in mind.
Amcor, a global provider of packaging solutions for consumer and healthcare products, is focused on making packaging that is lighter weight, recyclable, and reusable. It is also committed to increasing the amount of post-consumer recycled (PCR) material in its products to meet consumer demands.
Brands face increasing pressure to adopt packaging that not only protects
and promotes products but also aligns with sustainability goals. Given shifts in consumer buying habits and minimum recycled content legislation enacted in several states – and more on the horizon –customers continue to request responsible packaging.
“Customers across all segments are looking to increase post-consumer recycled content,” said Brad Philip, principal design engineer at Amcor Rigid Packaging. “There is also a strong focus in the home care and beverage industries on reducing the weight of existing packaging. Our team has spent the past decade using advanced technology to engineer new containers. These optimized designs perform better than previous versions while using less material.”
Many times, a customer will come to Amcor with an idea to reduce materials or increase PCR in existing packaging, and it is up to Amcor’s industrial designers and engineers to turn that concept into reality.
The material redesign requires a lot of physical changes as it is up against a huge number of environmental variations, from temperature to altitude. Rather than engineering and immediately building a physical prototype, which can be time consuming and costly, Amcor uses Dassault Systèmes software to simulate the dynamic aspects of the package and anticipate how different shapes will react in the lifespan of that container.
“We design and redesign that container several times before we make that initial prototype,” Philip said.
Connecting the design landscape
Amcor has been using Dassault Systèmes Catia computer-aided design (CAD) software for a long time. And, historically, it required exporting out a file to bring it into the computer-aided engineering (CAE) software to run testing on it. It’s a good process that allows the design engineers to iterate, but when there are a dozen or more designs to test, and additional software involved, it can complicate the process.
Recently, Amcor upgraded to Dassault’s 3DExperience platform that connects processes and acts as a single version of the truth.
“We’re currently operating on the 3DExperience platform, which integrates CAD and finite element analysis simulation environments into a unified workflow,” said Philip. “With the addition of automated design iteration tools, we can now programmatically modify CAD geometry, run finite element analyses, and evaluate performance metrics in a closed-loop system. The
“With this generative approach, we’re now exploring design spaces at a vastly higher resolution. Our most recent project processed over 80 million design permutations. It’s a paradigm shift from selecting the best option among a handful of manually created models to algorithmically identifying the most efficient solution from a virtually infinite design landscape.”
BRAD PHILIP • AMCOR RIGID PACKAGING
solver interprets simulation outputs and iteratively converges on an optimal design configuration.”
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Philip said that in the past they have manually evaluated four to twelve design variants per project. “With this generative approach, we’re now exploring design spaces at a vastly higher resolution. Our most recent project processed over 80 million design permutations. It’s a paradigm shift from selecting the best option among a handful of manually created models to algorithmically identifying the most efficient solution from a virtually infinite design landscape.”
of business consulting for the CPG and retail industries, the evolution from deploying separate design modules that weren’t integrated to a platform that brings together all the CAE applications, structural 3D design, and simulation workflows is a way to automate the process.
“And, you can leverage the computing power in the cloud to do these really robust optimization routines and generate more predictive outcomes that are going to be closer to the real physical world,” Wodar explained.
However, you still need to develop the methods and models that come from feeding historical testing data into the system in order to model the real world with better accuracy.
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In the case of a product with millions of variations, the Dassault software can run 24/7, nonstop in the cloud over the course of several days, exploring the design space to accurately know whether a design provides the performance required.
The perfect package
At Amcor, they’ve been conducting these kinds of tests for over 15 years, so it has been an intuitive exercise to run the software. “But we are finding ways of exploring what its capabilities are,” Philip said, noting they’ve been running these powerful tools on actual projects — and even existing products — to see if they’ve missed anything related to the optimization of the geometry on the actual container. This is a way to make sure that the newer, lightweight container can survive the palletization, the shipping, and the different physical challenges that the container will experience.
“So that’s really the advantage,” Philip said. “We can make a lightweight container that performs as well as the previous generation…It’s a new generation of design that is coming online, and we are at the forefront of that.” OEM
According to Ray Wodar, Dassault Systèmes’ director
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