Our History
Elie W. Labombarde recognised that the painstakingly slow process of hand-folding and gluing paper boxes could be automated. This realisation lead him to concieve of and build the first automatic box folding machine. His invention was met with much interest owing to it's potential. This prompted him to commercially manifacture and sell the machine under the company that would become IPBM.
1903: A small revolution
In 1903, Ellie W. Labombarde founded The International Paper Box Machine Company. Our fist machine was sold to the E.B. Murson Company of New Haven, Conneticut, USA. this machine could process as many Smith Bros cough drop boxes in an houras an entire crew could hand-fold in a ten hour shift at a lower cost, a revolution at it's time. it fostered a new industry segment from which many products would eventually come to benefit from the increased speed and efficiency gained from it's existence.
1974: Multifold International acquisition
IPBM concluded the acquisition of multifold international, that had been manufacturinf material handling equipment since 1953. Multifold's line of semi-automatic and fully automatic pre-feeders and packers stood out to us as by far the best available at the time. This, and their exceptional performance when paired with IPBM sealers informed our decision to acquire the company in August of 1974, maximizing the efficiency and unity of our products.
2003: Our move to Geneva
The Year of IPBM's 100th anniversary saw a significant restructuring of the company. Our headquarters were moved to Geneva (Switzerland) as a result of our acquisition by the Geneva branch of IPBM, now responsible for coordinating world-wide manufacturing and sales, while also delegating specific markets outside of Europe to our partners in China and the United-States. Now known as The International Paper Box Machine Company.SA, the company officially became a swiss business in October of 2003.
2008: Leary x IPBMCO
To further increase the versatility of our sealers, we partnered up with the well-known W.H. Leary Company of Chicago. the W.H. Leary Company is specialised in the development of in-line quality control systems. This partnership lead to the development of the LS-9.16 quality assurance system. It detects, tracks, and ejects faulty cartons thanks to an array of precise sensors positioned at key points on the production line, whilst also keeping track of the precise nature of defects and summarising them on a shift-end report.
1950: Our entry into liquid packaging
We introduced a sealer aied specifically at the liquid packaging segment, the first of it's kind. It utilized a gas-fueled flame to melt and reseal the polyethylene coated odge of Pure-Pak cartons, a gable-topped liquid carton that has become a broadly adopted industry standard. IPBM remains the only manufacturer that offers a full range of equipment tailored to this industry segment.
1980: KF Royal 333
In the summer of 1980, IPBM introduced the Royal line of flame sealers at IPEY with the KF Royal 333. it's ease of set-up, low maintenance characteristics, high-speed production capabilities, and inclusion of a third center carrier in the final fold that allowed fot ehe addition of a flame-sealing option for the heat-sealing liquid aseptic packaging, would contribute to it's eventual commercial succes, and it's continued relevance till this day. Many examples of the Royal 333 are still in daily operation.
2004: The LF-III 800/1000CH
2004 saw the launch of the LF-III 800/1000CH, a breakthrough flame sealer that reaches a maximum belt-speed of 1000 m/min. It integrated new innovations such as per section servo drive units top and bottom belt drices and in-line quality assurance. It also adressed the decades old issue of dust contamination, outperforming it's predecessor, the LF-B, in every way. The first LF-III was delivered to it's owner in Q4 of 2004 and became operational in Q1 of 2005.
2012: The LF-IV 800CH
We reengineered and readopted many of the field proven elements of the LF-III sealer in the new LF-IV 800CH sealer. By merging pre-fold and skiving and by merging burner and final fold into individual sections, we obtained a compact two section sealer. The resulting product delivers more output, allows for additional sleeve format flexibility and guarantees minimal dust contamination, decreased maintenance and lower energy consumption. The LF-IV 800CH was made available for purchase in Q2 of 2012.
Today: Hot air sealing
As a response to the growing adoption of hot air sealing technologies over gas, IPBM is teaming up with market leaders in hot air sealing technologies benefiting from their profound expertise in the discipline. Together with our American partner WSI we are introducing the LF-V 800CH, our new hot air heat source sealer, a modified version of our popular LF-IV 700CH. Today, hot air sealing is mainly used for the production of Combibloc format sleeves but can be adapted to suit gable-top sleeves.