Bickers expands Polish footprint with automated GLUEJET installation for POS displays

The Shift Toward Automated Gluing in Eastern Europe

The point-of-sale (POS) display market in 2026 demands a level of speed and structural precision that manual gluing simply cannot sustain. Addressing this industry-wide bottleneck, German machinery manufacturer Bickers has completed the installation of a new 20.30 PAi2 GLUEJET XY Gluing Plotter in Poland this July. This strategic deployment highlights a broader trend among European converters: the urgent need to replace labor-intensive hand-gluing processes with CNC-controlled automation to protect margins and guarantee consistent quality in retail environments.

Poland remains a critical manufacturing hub for the European corrugated and packaging sector. As brands push for more complex Free Standing Display Units (FSDUs) and shorter lead times, converters in the region are increasingly turning to advanced plotting technology. The newly installed 20.30 PAi2 model, featuring a generous 2000 x 3000 mm working format, is specifically configured to handle these large-scale display applications, providing the customer with unprecedented flexibility on the production floor.

Technical Capabilities Driving the Investment

What separates modern XY plotters from legacy systems is the integration of intelligent application hardware. The Polish installation is equipped with Bickers' Triple Smart gluing heads, a technology that allows for the simultaneous application of hot melt and cold PVA adhesives in a single pass. This dual-application method is crucial for POS displays: the hot melt provides immediate tack to hold the corrugated boards together during assembly, while the cold PVA cures over time to deliver the long-term structural integrity required for heavy retail products.

Furthermore, the machine features an advanced CAD camera system. In the fast-paced environment of 2026, operators cannot afford to waste time manually aligning every sheet. The camera system reads DXF files and automatically maps the exact position of the corrugated board on the hydraulic lift table, compensating for any slight misplacements or board warp. This ensures that the adhesive is applied with pinpoint accuracy, whether in straight lines, waves, or complex geometric patterns, at speeds reaching up to 2.0 meters per second.

Market Implications and Operational ROI

The transition to automated gluing is largely driven by the ongoing skilled labor shortage affecting the global packaging industry. Operating manual glue guns is ergonomically taxing and requires a significant workforce during peak production seasons. Industry data consistently demonstrates that implementing a GLUEJET system can reduce labor dependency in the gluing department by up to 70%, while simultaneously boosting production capacity by 50%. This allows converters to reallocate their workforce to more value-added tasks within the plant.

Beyond labor savings, there is a strong sustainability angle to this installation. Precise, software-controlled dosing significantly reduces adhesive waste. Applying only the exact amount of glue required not only lowers consumable costs but also minimizes contamination in the recycling stream, ensuring that the corrugated displays align with the strict circular economy mandates governing the European market today.

Bickers continues to prove that the historical bottleneck of display manufacturing can be transformed into a highly efficient, data-driven operation. As retail brands demand increasingly complex structural designs, will manual gluing become entirely obsolete in European converting plants by the end of the decade? Follow The Paper for daily news, market signals and key updates from the global paper, corrugated and packaging industry. — Sigue toda la actualidad del sector en www.thepaper.ai