PACKAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

A packaging system and method forms a bundled group of articles in an oriented arrangement, by applying a wrapping material to the articles via the bottoms of the articles while the oriented arrangement of articles is inverted and retained by a pallet. The wrapping material may be a sleeve of shrinkable material applied to the inverted end of the articles and shrunk to conform to the articles and form a base enclosing the bottoms of the articles. The articles are retained by the pallet in the oriented arrangement during the inverting, sleeving and bundling of the group of articles, to provide a bundled group including the articles securely contained by the shrunk wrapping in the oriented arrangement. The bundled group may include more than one type of article. The pallet may be configured to retain a top portion of the article, which may have an irregular or asymmetrical shape.

主权项

1. A method for bundling a group of articles, the method comprising:
arranging a plurality of articles in an oriented arrangement, wherein each of the plurality of articles defines a bottom and the bottoms of the plurality of articles collectively define a bottom end of the oriented arrangement; retaining the plurality of articles in the oriented arrangement to a pallet; inverting the plurality of articles in the oriented arrangement to invert the bottom end of the oriented arrangement; wrapping the plurality of articles by applying a wrapping material via the inverted bottom end to the plurality of articles; bundling the plurality of articles to form a bundled group such that the plurality of articles in the bundled group are contained in the oriented arrangement; and wherein the plurality of articles is continuously retained to the pallet in the oriented arrangement during inverting, wrapping, and bundling of the plurality of articles.