Box-packing apparatus

A box-packing apparatus comprising:

• a conveyance unit that conveys articles;
• an alignment unit that aligns the conveyed articles so that articles that are mutually adjacent partially overlap to thereby form an article group;
• a transfer unit that transfers the article group to a box-packing conveyance route;
• a contact unit that contacts the articles that are on a starting end side of the box-packing conveyance route in the transferred article group;
• a drive unit that drives the contact unit;
• and
• a control unit that controls the drive unit to move the contact unit in an alignment direction of the article group in a state in which the contact unit is contacting and supporting the articles that are on the box-packing conveyance route starting end side and changes an angle formed by a contact surface of the contact unit and a horizontal plane from a first angle to a second angle larger than the first angle after the contact unit starts moving, wherein the control unit changes the angle formed by the contact surface of the contact unit and a horizontal plane from the first angle to the second angle after a predetermined amount of time after it finishes moving the contact unit.