GreenSeed turned to R.A. Jones and the Alterion CL-170 to meet demand with a flexible and efficient solution.

FOOD ENGINEERING recently spoke to Scott Robinson, GreenSeed’s senior vice president of sales and business development, about the company’s mission, its partnership with R.A. Jones and its future plans.

FOOD ENGINEERING: What is GreenSeed’s approach to serving the food industry? Why focus on healthy products and packaging?  

Scott Robinson: At GreenSeed External Manufacturing, our mission is simple: to be an indispensable partner in our customers' success. We specialize in providing comprehensive external manufacturing services to food industry brands, operating as a seamless extension of their business so they can focus on what they do best — building brands and growing sales.

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FE: How would you describe GreenSeed’s packaging capabilities?

SR: GreenSeed packaging capabilities include horizontal form, fill and seal pouches, with and without a zipper or gusset, in a wide variety of sizes; vertical form, fill, and seal pouches in a wide variety of sizes; stick packs in 23 mm, 35 mm, and 45 mm sizes; fiber board, metal seamed canisters and PET canisters; and secondary packaging for retail, club store and DTC. 

FE: What pain points was GreenSeed experiencing before turning to R.A. Jones and the Alterion?

SR: One of our largest customers – a global food CPG brand – came to us with a major packaging transition, where they were switching a product line from a proprietary plastic canister it had used for two decades to a recyclable bag-in-box format. The project required us to fill dry flake product into PET pouches across two vertical baggers and carton the finished bags for retail five days a week. 

Between our two facilities, we have seven vertical pouch lines, so we knew we could handle the bagging capacity. What we lacked was an automated cartoner that could keep pace with the two lines running simultaneously. Our older machine at the Batavia plant could form and present cartons for smaller runs, but it required operators to manually load each pouch – and it was running a 3.5% to 4% carton scrap rate in the process. With a hard February retail launch date fast approaching, our current production line setup simply didn't have the precision, speed or reliability to meet the customer's volume demands.

FE: What drew GreenSeed to the Alterion?

SR: We knew we needed a dedicated cartoner that combined operator-assisted loading with automated cartoning to bridge a critical gap and meet the rigorous demands of a bag-in-box project of this size. But what we didn’t have on our side was time. Most OEMs were quoting us 8- to 12-month lead times, which was an automatic non-starter for our necessary production schedule. We turned to a longtime trusted partner, R.A Jones, a global leader in cartoning and packaging technology and a solid reputation in the industry. They had just built a new machine – the Alterion CL-170 – to unveil at PACK EXPO Las Vegas (fall 2025), designed specifically for contract packagers and regional brand owners looking for high-end reliability in a mid-speed footprint. R.A Jones made the deal happen fast. The Alterion gave us the technical sophistication, superior OEE and quick changeover flexibility we needed to run two lines into a single cartoner and hit our customer’s deadline on schedule.

FE: What benefits has GreenSeed experienced since integrating the Alterion?

SR: The Alterion has performed seamlessly from Day 1. We were literally running bags into boxes the same day R.A Jones installed the new cartoner at our plant. Since going into production in late December, the Alterion has had virtually zero operational downtime, enabling us to increase overall OEE by 5% to 7%.

The servo-driven barrel loader and adjustable U-shaped buckets allow us to load pouches consistently into two multiple carton sizes without fail and carton scrap has dropped below 1%. Automating the cartoning step enabled us to reassign operators to higher-value roles on the floor, including lines that are more labor intensive. Right now, we run the machine at an optimized gross speed of 120 cpm to meet the customer’s monthly volume, which delivers a 97%+ attainment rate. However, knowing that we have the capability to dial it up to 170 cpm gives us the option of adding a third VFFS line into the feed down the road. Having this flexibility is not only comforting for our team but the customer's planning team as well. 

FE: What’s next for GreenSeed? Does the company have any further expansion or optimization plans?

SR: We view the Alterion CL-170 as a versatile, long-term asset for our plant well beyond the three-year contract. The combination of operator-assisted loading and single-point handwheel adjustments has cut our changeover times in half compared to older carton lines, saving us significant downtime between runs. 

Thanks to its wide carton range and quick-changeover flexibility, we already have a second project lined up for this cartoner once the current contract wraps up. Looking ahead, seeing how R.A Jones solved chronic industry challenges like footprint constraints and labor allocation on this line has given us a clear blueprint as we look to automate our remaining manual production lines. 

FE: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

SR: GreenSeed has been very pleased with the performance of the Alterion CL-170 and the continued support of R.A Jones. We will definitely look to R.A Jones first when needing additional packaging equipment.