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If you are responsible for a pallet wrapping operation you’ll know only too well that your choice of machinery can make an enormous difference to your operational efficiency and costs, to the amount of plastic film you use, and to the load stability and safety standards you achieve.
However, the wide choice of automatic and semi-automatic pallet wrapping machines available on the market today, and the huge amount of information provided by their manufacturers, can make it very challenging to identify the pallet wrapping machine that best meets your needs. This short guide aims to help you through the selection process by suggesting the questions you should consider, and providing some of the information you’ll need to help answer them.
What is a pallet wrapping machine?
So what is a pallet wrapping machine? In essence, it is a machine that holds a roll of plastic film and applies it to a pallet, either by circling around the pallet, or by rotating the pallet on a turntable. Pallet wrappers can be loosely divided into 2 main categories – Core Brake machines and Power pre stretch machines. You can read a lot more about their differences, and the pros and cons of each in our pallet wrapping guide.
Click here to view our palletwrapping guide
What type of pallet wrapping machine do I need?
Every pallet wrapping situation has its own challenges and nuances which, combined with the variety of different machines on the market, can make it hard to know where to start. We recommend that you begin by considering the following points:
Stability of load before wrapping. Can your load be moved at all before it is wrapped? If not, you’ll need to choose a pallet wrapping machine that can handle this
Load stability. Can you be confident that the machine will keep your load secure and safe on its pallet from the time it is wrapped until the time it’s unwrapped, no matter how it is treated during handling, transit and storage?
How much will it cost you to wrap each pallet, once you’ve taken all costs into consideration?
Plastic waste. How much single-use plastic will the machine use to wrap a pallet?
How much available space do you have in which to wrap the pallets?
Can you wrap all your pallets in fixed locations, or will you need to move your pallet wrapping location around?
Manual Pallet Wrapping machine
Generally the cheapest pallet wrapping machine type, this option is entirely mechanical and requires no electrical supply.
Advantages
Low initial outlay
No requirement for electrical supply
Very easy to use
Turntable Semi-Automatic Pallet Wrapper – Core Brake
The most basic of all motorised pallet wrapper machines, this option has a couple of advantages but many drawbacks – as you can see below:
Advantages
Low initial outlay
Can be moved using a fork lift truck
Disadvantages
No Power Pre-Stretch System (which means a higher cost of wrapping)
Ineffective when wrapping light items, as load stability is gained by increasing the tension as the film is applied to the pallet
Uses a lot more plastic than necessary to wrap pallets
Although it can be moved, it’s not designed to be moved on a regular basis
Turntable Semi-Automatic Pallet Wrapper – Power Pre Stretch
These are often the most efficient, and therefore popular, machines on the market. When optimised properly these machines take some beating – as you can see from the pros and cons below:
Advantages
The power pre-stretch head stretches the film in the head before it is applied to the pallet, creating better load stability when optimised.
Minimises film used per pallet
Easy to set up and use
Can be moved with a fork lift truck
Low maintenance
Can be set up with many different programs to meet the needs of different pallet load types
Disadvantages
Has a large footprint so needs more space than some other types of machine
Can generally only be used in one location.
Low Profile Turntable Semi-Automatic Pallet Wrapper – Power Pre Stretch
These machines have all the advantages of the Turntable Semi-Automatic Pallet Wrappers, but with the added benefit of having a very low profile, meaning that pallets can be placed on the turntable very easily.
Advantages
The power pre-stretch head stretches the film in the head before it is applied to the pallet, creating better load stability when optimised
Low profile enables loading using pump trucks or PPTs
Minimises film used per pallet
Easy to set up and use
Low maintenance
Can be set up with many different programs to meet the needs of different pallet load types
Disadvantages
Has a large footprint so needs more space than some other types of machine
Can generally only be used in one location
Can not be moved easily once installed
Rotary Arm machines – Core Brake
These models feature a machine head that circles the pallet, rather than the pallet turning on a turntable, so are great for situations in which pallets are transported on powered pallet trucks or when loads are very unstable prior to wrapping.
Advantages
Allow easy access when using PPTs
No base at all – so pallets can stay on the floor
Small footprint
Disadvantages
No Power Pre-Stretch System, which means a higher cost of wrapping
Not effective at wrapping light items as load stability is gained by increasing the tension as the film is applied to the pallet
Rotary Arm Machines – Power Pre-stretch
With Rotary Arm machines, a machine head circles the pallet rather than the pallet turning on a turn able, which means they are great for situations in which pallets are transported on powered pallet trucks or when loads are very unstable prior to wrapping. The power pre-stretch head also delivers excellent load stability, but these machines do still have their pro’s and con’s:
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Advantages
Allow easy access when using PPTs
No base at all – so pallets can stay on the floor
The power pre-stretch head stretches the film in the head before it is applied to the pallet, creating better load stability when optimised.
Minimises film used per pallet
Easy to set up and use
Can be set up with many different programs to meet the needs of many different pallet load types
Disadvantages
Large base footprint
Often a more expensive option
Cannot be moved once installed
Robot Pallet Wrapper
The latest in the pallet wrapping innovation – the Robot follows the contours of the pallet and literally ‘runs’ round the pallet wrapping it as it goes in much the same way as a human would. Robot pallet wrappers have a lot more advantages than disadvantages.
Advantages
Easily movable, so can be used anywhere that pallets need wrapping
Battery operated, so don’t need a local power supply
Wraps pallets of any shape and size as the robot follows the contours of the pallet
Power pre-stretch head ensures that film usage is minimised when optimised
Disadvantages
Pallets need some space around them to allow them to be wrapped.
Spare battery required to avoid downtime.
Whichever machine type seems right for you, you’ll only realise its full benefits if it is set up correctly with the right film, and is fully optimised. Find out more about how our expert consultants can help with this contact us on 242 , or visit our website here
Are you stretch wrapping your pallets by hand? Relying on manual labor to consistently protect your products in transit may be causing your company to lose money in the long run.
Suppose your products are in high demand and you are cutting it close or, even worse, missing your customer's requested orders. In that case, you may be able to remedy this with automation at your end-of-line.
Hand-wrapping pallets are less cost-effective than using a stretch wrapper at a certain point. At the same time, automated stretch-wrapping machinery can save on time and costs.
Does the idea of saving money have your attention? Learn how to determine when to switch from hand-wrapping pallets to automated pallet-wrapping machinery.
Manual wrapping in your production line is not efficient for higher volume manufacturers. While the rest of your line may be pumping out finished goods ready to be palletized, the workers at the end of the production line are literally running around in circles to meet targets.
Significant productivity increases can be seen with the automation of your end-of-line packaging solutions. Even with a minor upgrade to a semi-automatic pallet wrapper, it is possible to see increases of 100% or more.
A customer evaluated their productivity around palletizing and found that their employees spent an average of four minutes wrapping a single pallet by hand. Talk about getting the spins at work! Two of their employees were wrapping 125 pallets each per week.
By upgrading to a semi-automatic pallet wrapper, they cut the time spent wrapping a pallet in half to 2 minutes, ultimately cutting over 8 hours per week in labor costs and getting their products out the door much faster.
It's been proven that hand wrapping doesn't protect as much as wrapping machinery due to how tightly and consistently automated pallet wrapping machinery can secure and safeguard products compared to a person.
Human error is bound to affect balanced loads. The human body cannot consistently apply an even stretch force and provide proper load containment all the time, thanks to fatigue and the slew of other hindrances that consciousness gives us.
This opportunity for human error often leads to double checks on proper pallet containment before loading each pallet into trucks for shipment. Making sure that everything is wrapped securely over and over by your labor force will certainly cause lower productivity for your plant floor.
The protection of your employees is also lessened with manual wrapping. The potential for work-related injuries for dizzy employees is a much higher risk, leading to higher insurance rates.
A study by OSHA regarding manually wrapping pallets found that the awkward body positions that hand wrapping pallets requires puts your employees at risk for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
While you are not spending significantly on automation, you are spending more than you could be on stretch wrap and labor force.
An automated machine will provide consistent wrapping capabilities, less film usage, and a lower potential for a work-related injury on your plant floors.
How much money can you save with an automated stretch wrapper?
Another benefit to upgrading and automating is much more wrap potential with automated pallet wrapping machinery.
You can significantly reduce the amount of film waste (which is excellent for your business's environmental footprint) while maintaining safe load containment.
This is because automated wrappers can maximize the amount of stretch that is achieved much more than we can by hand. You can expect your employees to average 25%-40% stretch when wrapping a pallet by hand.
Compare this with an average of 250% or more that an automated or semi-automated pallet wrapper can achieve. This type of automation can save quite a bit in film usage with its ability to pre-stretch each roll of stretch film.
The average you can expect to save on film costs with the upgrade to automated wrapping is 25-40%, thanks to the more reliable load containment and higher pre-stretch.
In optimal cases, you will see an average of 66% in film savings! This can be enough to help you in justifying the capital investment in automation.
If not appropriately wrapped by hand, your pallets could shift during transport, ultimately destroying and adding to the overall costs of producing your product.
The real costs of shipping damage due to improperly secured loads are not always fully realized because many of the actual costs are not calculated into the final number.
Consider each damaged load you are faced with and the cost of each damaged good, labor from the start of production for that product until the damage occurred, energy, and include the cost of the pallets, film, and wrapping costs.
Don't forget to consider the cost of the original shipping, re-shipping the damaged products back, and shipping its replacement out again.
The cost of picking and packing the products should also be factored in when calculating your spending on load damage. This is why supplemental shipping insurance should be a consideration for your business, if not a necessity.
Automating your pallet wrapping can significantly reduce the load damage you face, thanks to its consistency and reliability in securing loads.
Did you know that specific load containment and wrap forces are required to achieve a secure load for every type of palletized shipment?
If you don't know these for your pallets, there are tools available that we can help you with to help you determine them.
Containment force is more important than the number of times a pallet is wrapped or the gauge of the stretch film used.
According to an interview with Jim Lancaster, CEO of Lantech (the claimed inventor of stretch wrap and the first automated pallet wrapper), wrapping the top and the bottom of a pallet with more stretch wrap is an old wives tale.
To assure a secure shipment, you must apply the minimum containment force for your loaded pallet everywhere on the load.
If this is true, consistently relying on manual labor to achieve the proper load containment to reduce or eliminate load damage seems impractical.
After reviewing the above, it may already seem like a no-brainer for your production lines to automate your very end-of-line. If not, here are some questions to help you determine when you will be ready:
What are your needs for output (demand) per week/month/quarter/year?
Consider the amount of pallets you're wrapping on a weekly basis. If you have over 50 pallets going out per week, you could potentially see a return on investment in a year, give-or-take.
How much are you spending on stretch films on a monthly or quarterly basis?
With the knowledge that you can achieve an average of 250% or more pre-stretch on your films with an automated wrapper, see how much you could save on film costs alone by upgrading.
How much are you spending in damaged goods each quarter/year?
How much of this load damage can you directly correlate to your load containment or shifting pallet loads? Understand what irregular load wraps are really costing your business.
How long does each pallet take to be wrapped from loading to placement in the carrier trucks?
Add how much your employees are paid into this equation and consider this a cost of your damaged goods. Don't forget to add in any wrapping-related injury costs. Does the manual wrapping slow down your production as a whole?
Considering all of these factors, how much does manual wrapping actually cost you? How long would it take you to see ROI if you could automate it?
For more Pallet Wrap Suppliersinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.