At Pack Expo Las Vegas, TOPPAN Packaging Americas demonstrated its Aergo 8, a blister packaging machine designed for fast changeovers and retail-ready sustainable formats.
Featuring eight automatic stations, the rotary system helps OEMs and brand manufacturers reduce costs while meeting customer demand for recyclable materials.
“The machine itself can run up to 20 cycles per minute, but with the paper blister standard, we run it about 12 to 15 cycles per minute,” said Kim Sanderson, senior marketing associate at TOPPAN, during an interview with Packaging OEM.
The system also includes built-in safety features and quick-change tooling to minimize downtime and reduce operator risk.
Quick-change features support single-operator use
The system incorporates safety-focused tooling updates, including hitch pins that remain attached to the equipment and recessed handles for faster, safer changeovers.
“You’re not going to have any pinch points here,” Sanderson said as she set the tooling back into the machine. “A changeover can easily happen with one operator. It takes about 20 minutes at most.”
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Additional safety features include three emergency-stop buttons, touchscreen maintenance alerts, and password-protected human-machine interface (HMI) screens.
Paper-to-paper sealing supports recyclability
The Aergo 8 features automatic heat plate exchange (ATEX) with a sealing area of 12 x 18.5 inches, accommodating both paper and plastic materials.
“This paper has a heat-activated aqueous coating on it that is set at a certain temperature and weld time,” said Sanderson.
The coating serves as a fast-drying, water-based protective layer that guards against fingerprints, smudges, and scratches. At the show, TOPPAN used the system to seal golf balls in paper-to-paper blister packaging.
“This [packaging] has been designed so it can hang at a retail store, or it can stand with our footed paper blister,” Sanderson said. “It can be set into a tray for point-of-purchase shopability.”
The finished product is also curbside recyclable, something Sanderson said is “very popular” in the industry.
“It’s important to say that this Aergo 8 can seal plastic to traditional paper cards, which is why it’s the option for many brand retailers that want to take sustainability to the next level,” she said.
Lower tooling costs for OEMs
Scott Behner, account manager at TOPPAN, said the machine was developed in response to market demand for productivity, operator safety, and sustainable packaging.
“It empowers manufacturers to meet evolving standards while minimizing downtime and overall costs,” Behner said.
He also noted that the system can reduce capital expenses.
“Low-cost paper blister tooling is typically 85% less expensive than traditional carton tooling, and the Aergo 8 itself offers a 75% investment compared to full cartoning systems,” said Behner.
The Aergo 8 combines lower tooling costs with faster changeovers and recyclable materials, offering OEMs a scalable path toward sustainable blister packaging.
