Corrface's 2025 China tour revealed distinct regional packaging market characteristics, with particularly fierce competition in northern Jiangsu. In this landscape, how can packaging enterprises break through? This episode visits Jiangsu Li Ao Packaging Co., Ltd. to explore its unique operational logic in transitioning from board production to carton manufacturing.

Li Ao Packaging's transformation strategy is evident in its carton production equipment configuration. The facility operates two integrated production lines primarily dedicated to e-commerce carton manufacturing, complemented by standalone creasing machines and customized equipment—all tailored to meet the distinctive requirements of cartons in East China's market. A Jinchang 5-color printing, slotting, and die-cutting machine – with its unique modifications – not only reduces labor and floor space requirements but also eliminates paper misalignment, ensuring precise creasing/scoring accuracy and significantly boosting production efficiency.

Shanghai Jinchang Machinery, as a veteran printing equipment manufacturer in the corrugated packaging industry, offers a full product range from traditional standalone machines to integrated lines and high-definition printers. It pioneered servo-driven technology in China's corrugated machinery sector and has captured significant overseas market share, with its technological advancements perfectly aligning with Li Ao Packaging's development needs.

In the first half of this year, Li Ao Packaging added a 5+1 high-definition printing machine designed by Jinchang specifically for HD printing scenarios, targeting the premium printed carton market. Although currently still handling traditional brown box orders due to recent equipment deployment, its HD configuration delivers UV-print-level visual effects, showcasing Li Ao's hardware strength and transformation potential. This "equipment-first, market-expansion-later" boldness embodies the strategic vision essential for many corrugated plants transitioning to carton production.

In the finished goods warehouse, Li Ao Packaging's product structure is well-defined. E-commerce cartons form the foundation, complemented by high-margin appliance master cartons, premium cosmetic packaging, and fast-moving consumer goods tender cartons. The high-volume e-commerce carton orders effectively absorb corrugated board production capacity, making this segment an ideal transition path for board mills expanding into box production. The per-unit profit of large appliance master cartons far exceeds that of standard e-commerce cartons, making them a key profit driver. For niche cosmetic packaging demands, Li Ao employs flatbed die-cutting—despite lower efficiency compared to rotary die-cutting—to meet stringent precision requirements. Even in gluing processes, the company prioritizes quality over speed, using standalone folder-gluers instead of inline systems to ensure flawless cosmetic box seams. In the fiercely competitive packaging market, this uncompromising commitment to quality has become Li Ao's distinctive competitive edge.

Looking at the production equipment used by Li Ao Packaging, the machinery they've invested in falls within the mid-to-high-end range of the industry and is largely tailored to meet the demands of the surrounding market. It is precisely this adaptive mindset of "responding to change with flexibility" that has enabled Li Ao Packaging to successfully transition from specializing in corrugated board to expanding into carton production—and from focusing on e-commerce boxes to venturing into high-margin, high-quality niche segments—solidifying its foothold in the fiercely competitive market.

Amid complex industry dynamics, Li Ao Packaging has broken through with differentiated products, providing a benchmark for corrugated plants transitioning to carton production. What development path will your company choose?