The FR5 vacuum demo missed the tape seam our cartons actually have

Yes, filled samples. An empty box can flatter more than the vacuum tool.

Filled demo box, Isaac, but not our packed contents. I've got normal finished cases from both board supplies, including the usual tape overlap variation. Not damaged rejects pulled out to make it fail.

Photograph the proposed contacts on those cases before shipping them. You may find the supplier has designed around a clear patch that your packer never reliably leaves clear.

We once sent representative boxes and then watched a demonstration use the one face without the troublesome seam. Samples alone will not define the test. Agree which orientations arrive at the pickup and which surfaces the tool is actually allowed to use.

Identify the accepted packaging range with quality. Useful variation, yes; unexplained damage mixed into the sample set would make any result harder to interpret.

How much does the tape position actually vary on your samples, Felix? A contact map can show whether the proposed positions avoid it consistently or only on your neatest case.

Farah, the overlap falls under one proposed cup on three of the retained cases, but misses it on the others. Maya, it's the quoted layout. The demo tool uses different spacing, which the quote didn't spell out.

Would the operator have to turn each case to find a usable face?

MeiBrooks, that is work to include if it becomes an option. I've just found how much preparation I hid in my own estimate. Selecting and turning each carton could be a real proposed task, but it shouldn't appear as free assistance.

A restricted carton range might still be useful, provided receiving and packing can recognise it without becoming packaging detectives

Can the cases be turned freely at all? Dispatch labelling or the receiving station might constrain orientation. A tool solution that assumes a convenient face needs that assumption checked with the process owner.

MeiBrooks and FelixBaker, our destination needs the dispatch label facing out. Some reorientation may be possible, but the packer can't just offer any face and leave the result however it lands. That's now in the sample task.

Carla's point has saved you an expensive magic trick, then. Send the contact maps and the destination requirement with the cases, not in a separate message somebody forgets to open.

Supplier reviewed the maps and withdrew the quoted cup layout for our stated range. It's proposing another contact arrangement, with the complete pickup-to-supported-release task included. We haven't accepted that alternative yet. Thanks, Maya, for catching the two different tools.

Will the alternative be demonstrated on the identified filled cases you sent, including those three with the awkward overlap? Keep them in the comparison even if the new layout makes another box look easier.