IN Brief:
- Macpac reports increased demand for Plantpac mail-order and transit packaging from horticultural customers.
- The RD74 produces drainage and ventilation openings during thermoforming while removing punched material in-line.
- The machine was installed in 2022, making higher utilisation the current development rather than a new equipment purchase.
Macpac is reporting increased horticultural demand for its Plantpac transit packaging range, using integrated punch-and-die capability on an Illig RD74 thermoforming machine to produce ventilation and drainage features during the forming process.
The Stockport manufacturer uses the RD74 to produce trays and punnets with drainage holes and ventilation slots punched directly into the pack, while removed material is cleared in-line. The resulting formats are designed for plug plants, saplings, and more established plants distributed through mail-order channels.
The machine itself is not a new installation. Macpac introduced the RD74 in 2022 as its first Illig down-stacking machine with an integrated punch press, giving the company the ability to form packaging and create punched openings within the same production sequence.
The current development is therefore increased use of an established capability. Macpac says horticultural demand has grown as Plantpac customers make use of features that are difficult to reproduce efficiently when holes and ventilation slots have to be added as separate conversion operations.
Drainage and airflow are functional requirements rather than cosmetic additions in this market. Plants continue exchanging moisture and air during distribution, while excess water or poor ventilation can contribute to root damage, deterioration, and rot before a parcel reaches the customer.
Plantpac was developed with a major mail-order plant supplier and includes stock and bespoke formats. Macpac’s current range uses recycled PET with at least 80% recycled content, with the company describing the packs as recyclable again through the appropriate waste route after use.
The design includes locking features intended to secure plants during transport while keeping closure manageable for packing operators. Macpac also offers clear material so the contents remain visible, combining transit protection with a pack that does not completely obscure the product inside.
Ready-to-post versions are designed around letterbox delivery, while clam packs provide a self-locking format that can be filled and closed relatively quickly. Both formats turn the thermoformed pack into part of the distribution system rather than treating it solely as retail presentation.
The RD74 investment was originally justified on broader manufacturing grounds. Macpac said in 2022 that the second cutting station allowed holes to be punched and removed during forming and that down-stacking also reduced tooling cost compared with some alternative machine configurations.
The company had already replaced around 90% of its machine park over the preceding decade, moving towards faster and more energy-efficient equipment while increasing capacity without expanding the physical footprint of the production site.
That background helps explain why the latest Plantpac development is centred on capability rather than installed capacity alone. A thermoforming machine creates value only when its speed, tooling, cutting, and handling functions can be converted into packaging features customers will pay for.
Integrated punching is one example. Adding drainage and ventilation during forming reduces the number of production stages and improves repeatability, because the hole pattern becomes part of the tool and machine cycle rather than an additional manual operation after the pack has been formed.
Macpac serves markets beyond horticulture, including food and drink, pharmaceutical, retail, and industrial packaging. Its food range includes produce, confectionery, bakery, and drinks formats, making the underlying thermoforming technology familiar to processors even though Plantpac itself is designed for plants rather than food products.
The same manufacturing considerations recur across those sectors: material thickness, cavity design, stackability, closure, ventilation, tooling cost, run speed, recycled content, and secondary handling all influence whether a pack works efficiently on both the packaging line and the distribution route.
Macpac has not disclosed the volume increase behind its latest horticultural demand claim, nor has it published new Plantpac revenue figures. The announcement therefore supports a qualitative increase in demand rather than a quantified expansion in output.
What has changed is the commercial use being made of machinery installed four years ago. The RD74 arrived as a capital-equipment investment; Plantpac is now being used by Macpac as evidence that integrated punching can create market-specific products without adding another conversion stage — a more useful measure of machinery investment than the installation itself.
