Sweet potatoes, milk, almonds, and cattle put Merced County among California's top agricultural counties, generating $3.27 billion in production value in 2019, including 92 percent of the state's sweet potato crop. Most of that output leaves the county as a raw commodity, since no food or CPG manufacturer based in Merced itself runs a packaging automation line to turn it into a finished product. What has grown up in the city instead, over the past two decades, is a broader industrial base: printing, fiberglass boat building, warehousing and distribution, and packaging manufacturing now sit alongside the older agricultural economy, including a flexible-packaging manufacturer and a large commercial-printing operation that both rank among Merced's top employers.

A packaging manufacturer and a printing company still have to box, seal, and ship their own finished goods, which calls for general industrial equipment rather than food-line machinery. Case erectors and sealers here build and close cartons without a manual assist, then a PackMaster cobot palletizer takes over, moving finished cases onto pallets without adding warehouse staff. Shipping never stops. We keep no office in Merced, but our equipment serves manufacturers across the Central Valley the way it does the rest of California. If your line needs to box and palletize faster, our solutions page covers the case erecting and palletizing systems available now, and our case study on automating co-packing shows how one operation cut the manual case handling out of its line.