Our sleeving machines are designed for efficiently applying cardboard sleeves to both individual products, such as ready-meal trays, and grouped items like cups and cans. With options to secure sleeves using hot-melt glue or hooks, these machines provide reliable and adaptable packaging solutions. Available with multiple closure options, including bottom, side, and top closures, our sleeving machines offer flexibility to suit a wide range of packaging needs in food and beverage production and beyond.
The Vimco range splits by what it sleeves. The SLV840, SLV1015 and SLV1086 handle trays and run to 120 pieces a minute. The SLV70, SLV200 and SLV956 handle pots, cups, bricks and cans and run to 250 pieces a minute. Product shape decides the family before throughput does, so the useful first question is what you are sleeving rather than how fast, because a tray machine will not become a pot machine at any price.
Speed is electronically adjustable up to a maximum of 250 sleeves a minute, so the machine can be set to the line rather than the line built around the machine. That is worth more than it sounds. A sleever running faster than the filler ahead of it just starves, and one running slower becomes the bottleneck for the whole line. Match it to the slowest upstream step and keep the headroom for when that step gets replaced.
Sleeves can be secured with hot melt glue or with hooks. Glue gives a permanent closed sleeve and a clean finish, at the cost of a consumable, a heated system and the maintenance that comes with it. Hooks are a mechanical interlock with no adhesive at all, which removes the consumable and lets the board separate cleanly at end of life. If waste and recycling reporting matter to your customers, hooks are worth pricing properly rather than dismissing as the cheaper option.
The closure position decides where the join sits on the finished pack. Bottom closure hides it underneath and leaves the top and sides clean for artwork, which is usually what retail wants. Side and top closures suit packs where the underside is on display or where the sleeve has to be opened in a particular way. It is a presentation decision as much as a mechanical one, so bring the artwork to the specification conversation rather than after it.
Sleevers do two different jobs. Applying a sleeve to a single product such as a ready meal tray or a dessert cup is a branding and information job. Grouping cups, bricks or cans into a multipack is a selling unit job, and the sleeve becomes the pack rather than a wrapper on it. The collation ahead of the machine is what makes grouped sleeving work, and it is usually the part that gets underestimated.
On a ready meal or a yoghurt multipack, the sleeve carries all the print, so the primary pack underneath can stay plain. That is why sleeving suits ranges with many variants and frequent promotional changes: new artwork means a new sleeve, not new tooling, new film or a new primary pack. For short runs, seasonal packs and own label work under several brands, that is a genuine cost advantage rather than a marketing line.
All six machines are built for quick and easy format change. If you run several products a day, changeover time will decide your actual output far more than the headline speed does. Count the changeovers in a normal week, multiply by the time each one takes, and compare that number against the difference in cycle time between two machines before you decide which is faster in practice.
Sleeving usually follows filling and sealing, so it sits alongside forming and closing and lidding machines on tray lines, next to cartoning machines where the pack is a carton instead, and ahead of end of line machines for cases and pallets. It can all be specified together as a complete packaging line. LVP Automation specifies, installs and supports sleeving machines from Finglas, Dublin 11 as part of our wider automation services.
Tight, consistent sleeves elevate branding and on-pack information while keeping packs stable for retail display.
Switch between single-item sleeves and multi-pack wraps quickly using recipe-driven adjustments and simple change parts.
Clean PLC/HMI handshakes to fillers, weighers, printers/label applicators and case packers, keeping throughput high with minimal disruption.
Quick answers on formats, closures, speeds, materials, changeovers and integration.
Ready-meal trays, tubs, cups, cans, bottles and grouped items. We size tooling and guides to your product dimensions and pack style.
Hot-melt gives maximum speed and strong bonds; hooks suit glue-free, recyclable aims or when reopening is required.
Bottom, side and top closures, chosen for pack geometry, display preference and line flow.
Throughput depends on product size and sleeve style. We size the machine to your target packs per minute and presentation quality.
Yes, recipe recall with simple guide/pad swaps minimises downtime between SKUs and pack counts.
Typically cartonboard (including recycled/PEFC/FSC options). We validate thickness, crease quality and closure method for your line speed.
Yes, printed sleeves, cut-outs and windows are supported; we’ll confirm handling and stability at speed.
PLC/HMI I/O or fieldbus to upstream fillers/weighers and downstream printers, vision, checkweighers and case packers.
Presence/position sensors and optional vision to verify sleeve fit, artwork orientation and code/date placement, with reject logic.
Routine cleaning and checks on feeders, guides and adhesive or hook mechanisms; preventative servicing keeps uptime high.
Have a question about our conveyor systems or need a tailored automation solution for your business? Our team at LVP Automation is here to help. Fill out the form below with your details, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Whether you need a quote, technical support, or more information on our products, we’re ready to assist.