Cartostrip Ltd

The founder of Cartostrip Ltd, Richard Alcock, has worked in the folding carton and corrugated market for over 30 years and has seen many changes in the industry. His first company supplied rebuilt diecutters, folder gluers and display machinery. On selling this he moved on to new equipment for the same sectors representing some of the big names such as Bahmuller, Gopfert, Stock, Lasercomb, Tosi and Nikko. He has therefore been around box plants for a good while and saw that the one thing which hasn't changed is the need to strip pallets of diecut blanks quickly and efficiently. Blanking machines were introduced but they were expensive and often the run lengths did not justify the ongoing cost. There have been machines used for stripping for many years. There were pneumatic and electric jackhammers which damaged the blanks. There were star-wheel rotary units which not only caused damage but had serious health risks from the vibration set up. There were little rotary pad units which caused damage and also had to be sharpened constantly but there was really no safe and efficient system available. Damaged blanks mean poorer gluer through-put. How about a rotating chain with ultra hard teeth running inside a guard which not only protected the operator but also protected the box blanks while acting as a guide. Fit a powerful motor to process not only folding box board but solid board up to and corrugated too. Then also make it two handed in operation with dual valves for safety. Cartostrip was born in 2008 and after exhaustive trials of different designs, the first production model came to the market in early 2010. The machines are manufactured in the UK to the highest standards of safety, durability and reliability and have since sold across the world. The Cartostrip Compact was launched in 2014 and is the current model against which all others are measured. ‘Often copied but never bettered’ is the company motto.