Stretch Wrapping Equipment for Packaging

Stretch wrapping equipment is available in many levels of automation, to accommodate low, medium, and high production palletizing and unitizing environments. Many units can be retrofitted with upgraded braking units, making the base unit scalable as production demands increase. Many factors go into determining what type of wrapper to select. In addition to production volume, operations should consider the weight, configuration, and value of the materials or products being wrapped, the conditions to which palletized or unitized loads will be subjected during shipment and storage, and the packaging environment itself. With decades of experience in pallet wrap systems, Heritage Pioneer can assist with the selection, installation, integration, and ongoing service of all types of equipment.

Types of Pallet Wrap Automation

There are four general categories of stretch wrapping equipment. The most common type is the turntable machine, which accepts palletized or unitized loads from a forklift truck. The platform is raised several inches above floor level, which offerss some advantages for maintenance and parts replacement. Operations that move loads with hand jacks will opt for a low profile pallet wrapper. In this case, the turntable rests almost at floor level, and is usually purchased with a ramp to allow for easy delivery and removal of loads from the machine. For facilities with limited floor space, in need of a way to consolidate extremely lightweight or irregularly shaped loads, or looking for a completely automatic and integrated solution, rotary arm stretch wrapping equipment is usually ideal. These machines require no turntable. A rotating arm loaded with film is mounted to a wall or self standing frame, and pallets or units are wrapped at (or below) floor level. Finally, for extremely long or heavy products, such as manufactured carpet rolls, orbital machines – sometimes called ring wrappers – allow product to be conveyed through a ring on which a stretch unit is mounted. Products are wrapped as the material passes through the ring, maximizing speed and all around efficiency.

Stretch Wrapping Equipment Controls

Users have a great deal of flexibility and control over how machines operate, and how much film is applied to each load. Using easy to reach controls, normally mounted on the machine’s carriage or frame, operators can set the speed at which the carriage moves up and down, the number of wraps to be applied to the load, the amount of stretch applied to the film, and fine tune various other settings. Wrappers normally identify the top of the load with an electric eye system. Machines can be equipped with slow start and stop controls for the wrapping of extremely lightweight loads. For fully automatic applications, units come with automatic film cutoff devices. Link back to the top of this Stretch Wrapping Equipment page.

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