How Much Does a Robotic Case Packer Cost in 2026?

• Robot arm only, $30,000 to $100,000. The industrial robot arm a builder starts with, with no tooling, guarding, or conveyors. Nobody buys only this, but the arm sets the floor of your budget.
• Robotic case packing cell, $150,000 to $300,000+. A complete machine: arm, end-of-arm tooling, product infeed, case indexing, guarding, and controls. Arms come in 4-, 5-, or 6-axis versions and handle heavy rigid containers, pouches, bags, and bundles. Compact cells fit tight floor space.
• Dual-robot erector and packer. Two robot arms erect a case and pack it in one compact cell, at up to 8 to 10 cases a minute. Expect a price above a single-robot cell, since it replaces a separate case erector.
• Integrated end-of-line system, $500,000 to $1 million+. Case erecting, packing, sealing, and palletizing tied together. Post 9 covers this tier.

Many builders also offer gantry pick-and-place packers. A gantry moves a pick head along straight overhead rail. A robot arm bends at 4 to 6 joints.

• Gantry: up to 15 or 20+ cases a minute, built for one product family at steady speed, like bottles into reship able cases.
• Robot arm: slower per pick but more flexible. One arm handles bags, pouches, bundles, and mixed pack patterns, and swaps tooling for new formats.

• Cases per minute sets the arm size, the tooling, and whether you need one robot or two.
• Product type. Glass, pouches, and bags need custom grippers, bladders, or vacuum tooling. Each tooling set adds cost.
• Number of formats. Every new pack pattern or case size needs change parts. Automatic tool changers cost more up front and save changeover time.
• Guarding and footprint. A full enclosure costs more than interlocked fencing. Tight floor space calls for a compact cell.
• What feeds and leaves the cell. Conveyors, case erecting, and sealing raise the price quickly.

The quote is one line. Labor is the rest.

1. Count your hand packers per shift and your shifts per day.
2. Multiply each packer by 2,080 hours a year and your loaded hourly rate. At $25 an hour, one packer costs $52,000 a year.
3. A robot replaces 1 to 3 packers. Two packers on two shifts is $208,000 a year in labor.
4. Add installation, training, and yearly maintenance (Post 10 covers these).

Divide the full project cost by the yearly labor savings. That is your payback in years. Published paybacks for robotic case packing run 12 to 36 months.

• How many cases a minute will the cell run on my product, not a demo product?
• How many formats does the quote include, and what does each extra change part cost?
• What happens upstream and downstream: who supplies the conveyors and the case erector?
• Who installs it, and how many days of training are included?
• Who services the robot, and how fast does a tech arrive?

A robot runs best on cases with the same dimensions and board grade every time. We supply the corrugated cases, tape, and stretch film your line runs on, and we lock case specs before you order tooling. Our VMI program keeps those supplies stocked, and no VMI customer has ever run out of product. Send us your products and line speed, and we’ll help you build the case for a robotic packer.

S&S Incorporated · Packaging made easy since 1965 21300 St. Clair Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44117 216-383-1880 · info@sspkg.com · www.sspackaging.com Monday–Friday, 7:00 AM–3:30 PM