Find the right industrial packaging machine for sale with The Commercial Trader. Whether you’re wrapping biscuits, cartoning bottles, case-packing trays or palletising finished goods, we connect you directly with trusted UK and European sellers offering packaging equipment for every stage of the line.
Browse packaging machines across every format, flow wrappers, vertical and horizontal form-fill-seal, cartoners, case erectors and sealers, tray sealers, shrink wrappers, stretch wrappers and palletisers. Sellers provide full specifications on speed, format range, product contact materials and control platforms.
Not sure which machine suits your product and packaging format? Contact us for guidance, or browse related categories below.
Industrial Machinery Categories
Get in touch with the team to advertise your business today. Contact us now.
Get in touch with the team to advertise your business today. Contact us now.
Industrial packaging machines wrap, fill, seal, label and collate products for sale, storage and transport. The packaging process is typically split into three levels: primary packaging (direct product contact, flow wraps, pouches, bottles, jars), secondary packaging (multi-pack, cartons, trays, multi-packs) and tertiary packaging (transport, cases, pallets, stretch wrap). A typical production line will combine 4-10 different packaging machines in sequence, from primary wrapper through to palletiser.
Quality packaging machines routinely operate for 20-30 years with good maintenance. Mechanical frames, drives and cam systems are long-life components; sealing jaws, cutters, forming shoulders, belts and seals are consumables replaced on 1-3 year cycles. Older machines may need control retrofits (PLC, HMI, servo upgrades) to maintain parts support and meet modern safety standards.
Automated packaging transforms productivity, consistency and hygiene versus manual packing.
High-speed output: modern packaging lines run hundreds of packs per minute, volumes impossible to achieve by hand.
Consistent presentation: automated machines deliver identical seal quality, carton folding and labelling every time, essential for retail presentation.
Lower labour cost: automating packaging frees staff from repetitive tasks and reduces manual handling injury risk.
Material savings: precise film control, optimised carton erecting and accurate cut lengths reduce packaging waste by 5-15%.
Product protection: seals, gas flushing (MAP), shrink films and stretch wrap all extend shelf life and protect products in transit.
Packaging equipment is an excellent used-market category because refurbishment is straightforward and service support is widely available.
Capital savings: used packaging machines typically cost 30-60% less than new, a major saving on £50k-500k machines.
Immediate availability: new machines often carry 20-40 week lead times. Used stock can be delivered within weeks.
Refurbishment support: established brands (Bosch, Ishida, Tetra Pak, Ilapak, Bradman Lake, Mpac, Cermex) have extensive spare parts and service networks.
Proven reliability: machines that have run successfully for years are low-risk compared with unproven new designs.
Sustainability: extending equipment life reduces manufacturing emissions and supports circular procurement.
Horizontal flow wrappers form a tube of film around a product (biscuits, chocolate bars, bread rolls, cheese, medical devices), seal it longitudinally, then crimp-seal end-seals. The standard primary-packaging choice for discrete solid products. Typical speeds: 100-1,500+ packs per minute.
VFFS machines form a vertical pouch from roll stock, fill it with product (snacks, nuts, frozen veg, granulated chemicals), then seal top and bottom. Pillow bags, quad-seal bags, stand-up pouches and doypacks are all VFFS formats.
Erect flat carton blanks, load products into them, close and glue. Side-load cartoners suit bottles, bars, tubes and pouches; top-load cartoners handle delicate or irregularly-shaped items. Essential in pharma, confectionery, personal care and ready meals.
Automatically erect flat corrugated blanks into finished cases, then seal with tape or glue after filling. A staple of secondary packaging, feeding downstream case packers and palletisers.
Shrink wrappers bundle multipacks and single items in shrink film through a heat tunnel. Tray sealers apply printed or plain film to preformed trays, often combined with gas flush (MAP) for fresh-food products.
Stretch wrappers secure loaded pallets with stretch film for transport stability, rotary arm, turntable and robotic designs. Palletisers automate the stacking of cases, trays or bags onto pallets, with robot palletisers offering the most flexibility.
Wrap-around, front-and-back, top, wet-glue and sleeve labellers apply labels to bottles, jars, cans and containers. Modern servo labellers handle complex bottle shapes with orientation and no-product-no-label control.
Product size, shape and weight range: specify minimum and maximum dimensions and weights. Machines have set format ranges; confirm your products sit centrally in the window.
Pack format and film specification: flow wrap width, pouch dimensions, carton size, case format. Film/board compatibility is important, bio-films, recyclable films and thinner gauges need careful machine setup.
Speed and production rate: specify target packs per minute. Buy some headroom, but over-specifying costs capital and energy.
Hygiene and IP rating: food and pharma machines need stainless steel construction, IP65+ wash-down capability and documented hygiene compliance (EHEDG, 3A, GMP).
Change-over time: if running multiple SKUs, fast format change saves hours per shift. Tool-free change parts and recipe-driven servo axes are quickest.
Control platform: Siemens S7, Rockwell ControlLogix and Beckhoff TwinCAT are the standard platforms. Confirm compatibility with your existing line.
As a buyer-to-seller marketplace, we feature packaging machinery from sellers across the UK and beyond. Use our location and distance filters to find equipment near your facility, which can significantly reduce transport costs for heavy or awkward machinery.
The Commercial Trader is one of the UK’s largest marketplaces for commercial machinery, bringing together manufacturers, dealers, brokers and end-users on a single searchable platform. Whether you’re sourcing a single machine for a small processing line or specifying equipment for a complete plant build, you’ll find competitive pricing and a wide range of conditions and specifications.
Alongside packaging machinery, we also list:
Learn more about us, or contact us if you have any questions.
As we operate as a buyer-to-seller marketplace, any returns policy must be agreed directly with the seller before purchase. We’d recommend pre-purchase inspection wherever possible, along with a review of maintenance records and any recent service reports.
We list a comprehensive range of industrial machinery sub-categories, including:
Thanks for choosing to advertise on The Commercial Trader – please fill in your information below and one of our team will be in contact within the next 48 hours to arrange uploading your products for you.
