18/09/2026
How to Specify a Corrugated Cardboard Line, Stage by Stage
Most corrugated lines get specified backwards. Somebody picks the machine they already like, then works out what board it can run. Two years later the stacker is the bottleneck and nobody can explain why.
The order that works better: paper first, box last. It's the same six stops every time.
Start at the reel stand. Everything downstream depends on how fast you can feed paper and swap reels, which is why a Hydraulic Reel Stand and an Auto Splicer come up first in the conversation. If your single facer is rated 250 m/min, reel change time decides whether the line really runs at 250 m/min or spends the shift stopping and starting.
Then the single facer, where the flute is formed. SF-1 runs a 250 m/min design speed with a 1400–2300 mm web width in steel construction. Pick that web width against the board sizes you sell most — a machine running half empty is money parked on the floor.
Cut and score comes next, and it's where trim waste is won or lost. The SSC-1 slitter scorer runs a 30.3 KW drive with 630–900 m/min blade speed, which keeps pace with a 250 m/min corrugator instead of dragging it down.
Before committing on any of it, check the pre feeder: up to 280 sheets/min and a 1600x3000 mm maximum sheet. That 1600x3000 mm figure is what decides whether large-format work stays on this line at all.
Stitching is the last forming step most buyers think about — STM-1, 450 nails/min, 30–140 mm pitch. Honestly, the pitch range matters more than the nail speed if your box mix changes week to week.
Then there's the stacker, the unglamorous one that quietly sets the real pace of the line. If it can't clear boards at line speed, everything upstream slows down to whatever it can handle.
Integration after that is mostly boring work: checking that equipment runs normally, replacing wear parts before they fail, and monitoring key machines digitally where you can. Nobody puts that in a brochure.
We've been building corrugated cardboard machines at LLY PACK for over 25 years — 3,500+ line installations, 40+ countries. Send over your box mix and target output if you're weighing stages right now, and we'll tell you which numbers to lock in before you sign anything.
Which spec do you wish you'd double-checked before your last line quote?