Sponsored by Pacteon
Key takeaways
As product lines expand, end-of-line equipment that handles quick changeovers between case formats and pallet configurations becomes a meaningful operational advantage for food manufacturers.
Labor pressure at the palletizing and case packing stage has led many facilities to treat automation as a staffing solution, not just an efficiency investment.
Modern case packers and palletizers are designed for flexibility, with automated changeover tools and software-driven pallet pattern generation that help plants adapt without extended downtime.
The number of SKUs moving through a typical food manufacturing facility has grown considerably over the past decade. More flavors, more sizes, more seasonal and regional variants. The shelf demands variety, and the production floor has to deliver it. At the end of the line, that variety arrives as a case packing and palletizing problem.
A system designed to handle four formats a decade ago may now be running twelve or more. And in many facilities, the workers needed to manage that volume simply aren’t there.
While these pressures aren’t new, they’re pushing more food manufacturers to look seriously at how their end-of-line automation is keeping up.
When the SKU count climbs, the packing floor feels it first
Case packing, palletizing, and stretch wrapping are often the last steps before product leaves the facility. They’re also among the steps most affected by format changes and critical to maintaining the quality of shipments arriving at the end user.
Each time a new SKU comes online, or an existing one shifts to a different package size, the case packer and palletizer have to adjust. In a manual operation, that means physically repositioning guides, pulling reference materials, resetting parameters, and validating the setup before the line can resume. Depending on the complexity of the change, that process can run anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour. In a plant cycling through multiple SKU rotations per shift, that time compounds quickly into a throughput problem.
Modern case packers address this by building flexibility into the machine’s design rather than treating it as an afterthought. Schneider Packaging Equipment, part of the Pacteon Group, designs its case packers to handle a broad range of case sizes, which extends the useful life of the equipment as product lines evolve. Schneider’s change adjust solutions, ProAdjust and ProAdjust Lite, ensure accurate positioning even with inexperienced operators. ProAdjust automates the changeover itself: with a press a button, and the machine moves to the correct position for the new format, while ProAdjust Lite provides operator guidance with indicator lights and verification that the adjument has been completed accurrately.. Signs of labor pressure at the end of the line
The labor shortage widely affecting food manufacturing is particularly pronounced in end-of-line roles. Case packing and palletizing require sustained repetitive lifting across full shifts, the kind of physically demanding work that makes hiring and keeping employees particularly challenging.
“It’s difficult to find and retain employees to manually stack 60-lb boxes consistently onto a pallet,” says Mike Brewster, Vice President of Sales at Pacteon Group. “And that’s before taking into account the ergonomic challenges that presents.”
That staffing difficulty has a direct quality consequence. Pallet stability depends on consistent stacking, and consistency is exactly what erodes when workers are fatigued, undertrained, or frequently turning over. Load failures, product damage, and shipping complaints often trace back to variability at this stage. Robotic systems remove that variability from the equation. Brewster cites a mean time between failures of roughly 80,000 to 100,000 hours for robotic palletizers. “If I were hand-stacking product for an 8- or 10-hour shift, my quality and output would probably deteriorate,” he says. “That doesn’t happen with robots.”
The investment data reflects where manufacturers are landing on this. Food and consumer goods was the fastest-growing segment for North American robot orders in both 2024 and 2025, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), with orders in that sector jumping 105% year-over-year in Q3 2025 alone. Labor availability is consistently cited as a primary driver.
How modern palletizers handle more configurations
SKU proliferation doesn’t just affect case format; it affects how pallets are built. Different case sizes require different stacking patterns to achieve a stable load. In a manual operation, changing that pattern requires operator training and reference materials, and errors in the stacking sequence can compromise load integrity in transit.
Automated palletizing systems address this through software. Schneider’s OptiStak pallet pattern software, co-developed with FANUC America, lets operators create and store configurations directly from the human-machine interface. When a new SKU comes online, they can add a recipe in minutes. When the line switches formats, calling up the correct pattern takes seconds, requiring no technician visit or extended retooling.
That self-service capability is a game-changer for plants managing an expanding SKU portfolio. End-of-line automation investments, including case packing and palletizing, can pay back in 12 to 24 months in high-volume, high-overtime environments. Keeping format changes in the hands of plant staff rather than the vendor’s service team shortens the path to that return.
What to look for when evaluating end-of-line flexibility
Not all automation investments age equally. Equipment purchased for a specific product line can become a constraint when that line evolves. And in food manufacturing, product lines almost always evolve.
Considerations include:
Changeover capability: How long does a format change take, and how much of that process can be automated? Manual changeovers are a recurring cost that’s easy to underestimate at the time of purchase.
Range of compatible formats: Equipment designed to handle a wide range of case sizes from the start gives facilities more room to grow without premature replacement.
Software-driven configuration: Palletizing systems that store pattern recipes and allow plant staff to manage them without outside assistance reduce the operational friction of SKU changes.
Integration with the broader line: Case packers and palletizers that work as part of a coordinated end-of-line system, rather than as standalone pieces of equipment, tend to perform more reliably and create fewer bottlenecks.
Pacteon operates as a single-source partner for end-of-line automation, supplying cartoners, case packers, conveyors, palletizers, and stretch wrappers through its family of brands: Schneider Packaging Equipment, ESS Technologies, Descon Conveyor Systems, and Phoenix Stretch Wrappers. That integrated approach reduces the multi-vendor coordination burden that can complicate line design and troubleshooting for plant teams.
Automation as a long-term operational decision
The entry point for end-of-line automation has changed. Modular, collaborative systems have brought the barrier to adoption lower than it was even a few years ago, particularly for facilities that aren’t running high-volume, single-SKU production lines. Compact robotic palletizers designed for smaller footprints and lower throughput requirements have expanded the range of operations where automation is financially practical.
The conversation about case packing and palletizing automation is no longer primarily about cost reduction, but building a line that can keep running as product lines grow, labor markets remain tight, and the pace of format changes shows no sign of slowing down.
Pacteon is a single source provider of integrated end-of-line packaging automation for food manufacturers, including case packers, palletizers, conveyors, and stretch wrappers through its family of brands. Learn more.
