A family business founded in the United States in 1972, Lantech is a global market leader in stretch wrapping technology. They produce state-of-the-art machines—from case erectors to lid applicators to stretch wrappers—that ensure companies are able to package and ship their products securely. Today, with over 800 employees, Lantech is represented around the world, with branches in Louisville (Kentucky), Melbourne, and Shanghai. It also has a competence center in the Dutch town of Malden, where, among other projects, the company has been working closely with the UK-based company Gousto since 2020. Due to its ongoing growth, the British meal kit delivery retailer has already ordered dozens of packaging machines from Lantech to meet the constantly increasing demand for its products, which experienced a real boom during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Huge challenge
As a result of closed restaurants and empty supermarket shelves, customers placed more frequent online orders with Gousto, having the meal kits of their choice delivered right to their homes. This situation posed a huge challenge for the delivery retailer: The production capacities for erecting and sealing the shipping boxes suddenly had to be increased, and considerably so. Only then could the company cope with the huge influx of orders and tap its full market potential. Gousto needed a comprehensive solution immediately and turned to Lantech.
After extensive discussions, the company realized it needed more than just the appropriate machines, such as case erectors, case sealers, case packers, tray erectors, and lid applicators. It also needed high-performing adhesives that offer the required stability for the packaging boxes while also reducing costs in the production process. The overall system consisting of machines and adhesive solutions also needed to be tried and tested, ensuring smooth production from the very start—a tremendous undertaking, from the logistics to the operation. Lantech knew that when working under such conditions, it is crucial to have a long-established partner with expertise in sealing cases. That is why they reached out to Johann Quiring from the Solution Partner Support team at Jowat.
Custom solution for a winning team
Working in close cooperation, the expert for packaging machines and the specialist for adhesive solutions drew upon a custom concept for Gousto. The longstanding partnership between Lantech and Jowat really paid off here. “Thanks to the companies’ joint development of comprehensive solutions for numerous customers over the years, the Jowat adhesives in use are already well matched with Lantech machines. Together, our systems operate like a winning team—which was extremely important for this project,” expresses Johann Quiring.
Against this backdrop and the additional requirement of using a sustainable adhesive solution, Jowat recommended the low-temperature product adhesive Jowat-Toptherm® 851.99. The high-performance, resource-efficient product from the Green Adhesives series provides more than just the necessary adhesive strength to close the meal kits. Due to its ability to be processed at temperatures as low as 100°C, the product also ensures significant energy savings and is particularly suited for packaging temperature-sensitive products such as groceries. Moreover, the sustainable adhesive solution offers improved occupational safety due to its lower risk of charring. Finally, it reduces the risk of system downtime to a minimum, since the hot melt adhesive has a very low tendency to develop oxidative deposits. This helps prevent application nozzles from becoming clogged. All of this ensured from the very start that Gousto’s production could handle the inundation of orders. “This project showed the great importance of our longstanding collaboration with Lantech. Our close partnership was the basis for being able to offer Gousto a comprehensive solution right away,” summarizes Johann Quiring. Bob Lemmen, marketing manager at Lantech, agrees and adds in closing: “Our professional cooperation was once again a proven recipe for developing a successful high-end solution for our customers.”
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