Ropak took stick pack machinery to a new level in time for the single serve packs to become the hottest trend in consumer packaging – and they’ve achieved some incredible throughputs -- up to 1,000 per minute.

Ropak Manufacturing (PELV Booth S-5296), the leader in flexible packaging technology, is poised not only to supply the hottest trend in single-serve packaging – stik packs – they’re also making their industry-leading designs more flexible and compact with ELAU’s new Intelligent Servo Module technology.

Ropak’s 14-axis servo-driven Stik Pak machine combines aspects of converting with packaging and does it all in an amazing footprint. Dancer-controlled infeed to 10 in-line slitters is transferred by adjustable turning bars reminiscent of newspaper presses to the modular forming, filling and sealing station – where up to 1,000 stick packs per minute can be produced.

Rooted in innovation

Decatur, Alabama based Ropak Manufacturing is a company with a rich history of innovation and entrepreneurship. Before focusing its energies on packaging, what is now known as Matthews Industries was a successful machine shop. Then, during the 1960’s, the company expanded into machinery building, using its inventiveness to assist several local and national corporations on major projects

But the company’s future would lie in equipment with a broader customer base. Packaging activities began in the late 1960’s with helping maintain and repair 200 pouch per minute sugar pack f/f/s machines that used reciprocating, incremental motion. The company began experimenting with its own ideas for a continuous-motion rotary system, ultimately achieving speeds of over 2,000 sugar packs per minute.
To the amazement of their new customers, they could replace ten old machines with just one from Matthews.

In 1985, two of the founders’ sons, Ernest and Ralph Matthews, started Ropak Manufacturing Company to pursue packaging full-time. The company was now firmly established in the packaging industry.

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