L’Oréal replaces shrink wrap with smarter carton box bundling

Bundling three carton boxes securely at high speed used to require shrink film and heat.

For L'Oréal, that no longer matched the company’s ambition to reduce packaging waste, lower energy use and make production more efficient. The beauty brand therefore looked for a more sustainable way to bundle its hair product boxes without compromising speed or stability.

The solution was automated paper banding.

The challenge: bundling carton boxes without excessive plastic

L’Oréal previously used shrink wrap to secure three hair product boxes into one bundle.

Although the film kept the cartons together, it also fully enclosed them in plastic. The process required a heat tunnel, consumed significant energy, and added more packaging material than was necessary simply to hold the boxes in place.

With high production volumes and ambitious sustainability targets, L’Oréal needed a carton box bundling solution that could:

• Reduce plastic packaging
• Eliminate the need for heat
• Maintain high production speeds
• Keep three boxes securely together
• Add product information without an extra label

A paper banding solution for multipacks of carton boxes

Together with Bandall, L’Oréal developed a fully automated bundling solution for three-box multipacks.

Two paper bands are applied crosswise around each bundle. This keeps the carton boxes securely grouped while using material only where it is needed.

The banding process is integrated directly into the production line and can handle more than 90 boxes per minute. Because no heat is required, the system also avoids the energy-intensive shrinking stage used in the previous process.

The barcode is printed directly onto the band during bundling, combining bundle formation and product identification in one automated step.

Secure bundling with less material and energy

By replacing shrink wrap with paper bands, L’Oréal reduced both packaging material and energy consumption.

The carton boxes remain clearly visible, the three-pack stays securely together, and the production process continues at the speed required for large-scale manufacturing.

The new setup helps L’Oréal:

• Replace shrink film with paper banding
• Use less packaging material per bundle
• Eliminate the need for a heat tunnel
• Reduce energy consumption
• Bundle more than 90 boxes per minute
• Print the barcode directly on the band
• Create consistent three-box multipacks

A fast return on a more efficient bundling process

The benefits extended beyond sustainability.

The automated banding system increased production efficiency while lowering material and energy costs. L’Oréal recovered its investment in less than one year, showing that a more sustainable carton box bundling solution can also deliver a strong financial return.

By switching from full shrink wrapping to targeted paper banding, L’Oréal created a faster, leaner, and more future-ready packaging process.