Protecting your inventory during shipment is a critical step to ensure products get to their destination without any issues. Not only are shipping mistakes costly, but they can ruin your reputation.
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Adding a stretch wrap machine to your warehouse floor increases the chance of keeping your shipments safe and can help inject more efficiency into your daily operations. Let&#;s explore stretch wrappers and learn all about how they can benefit your facility.
What Is a Stretch Wrapping Machine?Stretch wrapping is critical to ensuring the products on a palletized load safely make it to their destination. The tension and protection from the stretch wrap keeps product tightly grouped together.
But you can&#;t haphazardly wrap a pallet and hope for the best. You need to wrap your loads properly, or else they might shift during transit. This can cause damage to goods, material handling equipment and even workers.
Adding a stretch wrapper to your warehouse can add consistency to your wrapping and keep goods and workers safe. It can also:
Stretch wrappers can take care of the repetitive task of wrapping palletized loads. They differ in the ways they wrap loads and what steps are machine-driven, but the end result is always the same &#; better warehouse efficiency, shipment protection and safety.
Types of Stretch WrappersStretch wrap machines come in a few different configurations. The main variable you&#;ll need to understand to find the right equipment for your warehouse is the types of loads you need to unitize.
This is why having material handling equipment experts on your side can streamline the purchasing process. On that front, East Coast Storage has your back. We can walk you through your options, take stock of your specific needs and connect you with the affordable equipment you need to get the jobs done.
To help you along your journey, let&#;s explore the two main types of stretch wrappers you&#;ll see on the market today.
Semi-AutomaticAs the name implies, semi-automatic stretch wrappers take care of most, but not all, of the wrapping task. Workers will still need to load and unload the pallet as well as manage the operation of the machine.
Within the category of semi-automatic stretch wrappers, two main types exist:
Fully automatic stretch wrap systems usually include a conveyor system to streamline the loading and unloading process. The conveyor will move the pallet into a wrap zone where a robotic arm revolves around the load, wrapping it securely.
A fully automatic system can add extra efficiency to your daily warehouse operations but tend to be the most costly option for stretch wrapping. They work well with fairly uniform product. If your warehouse tends to deal with non-uniform palletized loads often, a semi-automatic wrapper gives your team more control over how the machine wraps loads.
Hand Stretch vs. Machine WrappingWhile you can wrap pallets by hand using a specific stretch wrap, it&#;s not the easiest and most efficient way to secure a load. Hand wrapping is reasonable in environments where only a handful of pallets need unitizing on an average workday.
If wrapping pallets is a critical step in your everyday operations, a machine wrapper is vital. Hand wrapping can get the job done, but with some serious downsides:
In almost every warehouse environment where stretch wrapping pallets is common, a semi-automatic or fully automatic system is key to optimizing daily operations. Just be sure to implement best practices when using stretch wrappers to keep your workers safe.
What You Need to Know About Stretch FilmIn almost every warehouse environment where stretch wrapping pallets is common, a semi-automatic or fully automatic system is key to optimizing daily operations.
A good stretch wrap system combines both the stretch wrapper and the right stretch film. When choosing the correct film, you&#;ll be flush with choices.
Knowing which film to use will not only help keep your pallets secure but also your equipment safe.
Types of Stretch FilmWhen it comes to machine wrap, you&#;ll often see a few choices:
Those are just a few film types you&#;ll see on the market. In reality, you&#;ll find many more options, including specialty films, films for hand wrapping and other types like no-cling.
Understanding Containment ForceIf you are looking for more details, kindly visit Stretch Used Wrap Machine.
Put simply; containment force is the hugging pressure that keeps a palletized load securely together. As you might imagine, it&#;s vital to understand this concept as it will mean the difference between a safely secured load and one that shifts during transit.
Another related measurement to consider is the gauge. Stretch films will come in different sizes and gauges. Standard gauges range from 60 to 150 gauge. Generally speaking, the higher the gauge, the more strength.
By understanding gauge and containment force, you can determine precisely what size film to use, and how many layers of film a pallet needs to stay secure.
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Finding the Right FilmWith all of these variables in play, finding the right stretch film can feel challenging. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
If you can, explore the manufacturer&#;s recommendations for your specific machine. You can also connect with material handling experts, like our team here at East Coast Storage Equipment, to help guide the decision-making process.
Where to Source High-Quality Stretch Wrap MachinesIf you&#;re on the hunt for affordable stretch wrap machines, East Coast Storage Equipment is here to help. We&#;re the number one name in affordable storage equipment like warehouse pallet racks, industrial metal shelving and, of course, stretch wrappers. We&#;re always ready to answer your questions and help you find the right equipment for your warehouse. Contact us today to get started.
Still using manual stretch wrap methods? That's alright for low volume applications where packaging equipment isn't needed. If you're looking for a better process for high volume applications, orbital stretch wrappers can help. These machines are ideal for securing over-sized, oddly shaped, and palletized loads. Orbital machines wrap the film all the way around the pallet by rotating the film. Compared to other stretch wrappers, orbital wrappers tend to get higher throughput speeds. This is because the palletized loads don't need to be rotated at high speeds, instead the machine wraps around the pallet.
Orbital stretch wrappers can work long hours, while maintaining a consistently high quality. Using these machines boosts your pack to ship performance while minimizing labor costs. Most loads are wrapped in under 3 minutes, think you can beat that time by manually wrapping the pallet? Stretch wrapping systems are one of the fastest ways to boost your end-of-line packaging efficiency. These machines eliminate the need for operators to manually attach the film tail to the load, then cut and secure the film tail at the end of the cycle.
If you're hand wrapping 20 or more loads per day, it's more cost-effective to use an orbital stretch wrapper than to apply stretch wrap by hand. You could see an ROI in as little as 6 months when investing in stretch wrap equipment. Material savings are huge with orbital stretch wrappers. They can reduce the cost of stretch film by up to 75% compared to the manual wrapping process. Also, by stabilizing the load and wrapping properly, you can recover nearly 50% of your potentially damaged products.
An orbital stretch wrapping machine eliminates side to side movements of hand wrapping that commonly lead to back injuries. Packaging equipment like stretch wrappers also eliminate injuries associated with metal banding strapping. The constant bending and twisting and lifting required to wrap a pallet is taken out of the equation, instead, just press a button and let the machine do the work for you.
Most machine applied stretch wrap is pre-stretched at least 200%. This results in a tighter load while using less product. Also, you know you're getting the same wrap each and every time. Compare that to an operator wrapping a pallet on a certain day, and a different operator wrapping on another day. They're not going to be the same and that leads to more damaged product and inconsistency in your packaging process.
The top, middle, and bottom layers of your load need to all have the correct amount of containment force. (The wrap force multiplied by the number of film layers) The right amount of containment force depends on the type of load you&#;re wrapping. Heavy loads may require more containment force and lighter loads may require less. With an orbital stretch wrapper, you'll get the correct about of containment force every single time you use the machine. The load integrity will stay the same from the 1st pallet wrap of the day, to the last.
When it comes to packaging equipment like orbital stretch wrappers, you want to hear about actual results. How have these machines impacted other companies' operations? Here's some real facts.
Their shipping challenges included:
Orbital stretch wrapper solution:
Installing a stretch wrapping machine triplex their shipping capacity and helped eliminate downtime. The metal fabricator went from wrapping 30 pallets a day to 90 pallets a day. Their proven ROI was delivered in just 6 months.
Their shipping challenges included:
Orbital stretch wrapper solution:
It used to take two workers to wrap a pallet in 15 minutes, now one operator can effectively wrap a pallet it under 5 minutes. The company tripled their pack to ship productivity with proven ROI of $ in savings each week. Installing the orbital machine successfully eliminated product damage during shipping and those banding related worker injuries.
Their shipping challenges included:
Orbital stretch wrapper solution:
IPS Packaging's installation of the ITW Muller Yellow Jacket led to nearly $20,000 in yearly savings. They improved their damage rates, and streamlined their internal packaging process. Their work was cut in half by using the machine, using a more efficient stretch wrapping process.
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