Replace hand wrap with a Focus stretch wrapper

Manufacturer of stretch wrapping machines, Focus Packaging, offers ten good reasons why packaging departments should replace hand wrapping of pallets with a stretch wrapping machine.

Manufacturer of stretch wrapping machines, Focus Packaging, offers ten good reasons why packaging departments should replace hand wrapping of pallets with a stretch wrapping machine.

Safety is the number one priority.

1 - Employee safety - hand wrapping pallets is an extremely difficult job if it is done correctly, and a common source of employee back injuries when performed incorrectly, said Focus.

The human form is not designed to walk backwards and be hunched over while manipulating a weight from 2.5-5kg as well as trying to pull enough tension into the film to hold the pallet load together.

Then 20s later the operator is holding the same roll of stretch film above his/her head to do the top of the pallet.

Again the operator has to tug on the film using only ther back and arm muscles.

Many accidents and work related injuries are caused by hand wrapping pallets.

After a load has been built, it is generally wrapped with plastics to maintain its integrity during transit.

Employees may be injured when performing this task manually.

They must bend at the waist to wrap the bottom of the pallets while supporting the plastic dispenser Employees often stick their fingers into the open end of the tubes to stream off the wrap.

This increases the risk of cuts to the fingers.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

2 - Training cost - there is a right way and a wrong way to wrap a pallet with hand wrap.

Applied incorrectly, hand wrap may crush the product or allow the product to shift during transport.

Employee turnover or multiple operators mean that one must continually train employees on how to correctly wrap the loads to ensure customer satisfaction while ensuring they do not injure themselves.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

3 - Professional package - wrapping a pallet using a stretch wrap machine produces a clean professional finished product.

Pallet wrapping with hand wrap leaves a rather erratic and uneven look.

The appearance of the pallet load on the customer's floor must project the professional image the supplier wants for its company.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

4 - Consistent and uniform application - an operator who wraps pallets with hand wrap stretch film is not able to repeatedly wrap every load exactly the same way.

A load wrapped by one operator Monday morning will not be wrapped the same way as another operator on Friday afternoon.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

5 - Load integrity - no one, said Focus, likes hand wrapping.

At some point the 'good enough' syndrome takes over.

Knowing what is required to keep the product unitised during shipping, and while it is on the customer's floor, is essential in setting the supplier's stretch wrapping specifications for its operators to follow.

When an employee is hand wrapping pallets the responsibility of meeting minimum tension requirements is left up to him/her.

Fatigue, ignorance, training, or lack of motivation can affect the point at which an employee thinks 'good enough'.

It can result in potential complaints or damage due to poorly wrapped product.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

6 - Damage control - as employees deal with the difficulty of hand wrapping the goal becomes just wrapping it enough to get it out the door.

Wrapping the load to eliminate damage during transit and at the customer's warehouse becomes secondary.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue as it wraps the same way every time reducing the potential of a pallet being damaged during transit.

7 - Customer satisfaction - pallet wrapping your product is the last operation a supplier performs and the first operation the customer sees by which to judge the capabilities of the supplier.

The customer's perception of supplier competence starts the minute the supplier's pallet of product arrives at the customer's dock.

Inconsistently hand wrapped pallets can give the perception of a low-end manufacturer.

A supplier lowering its standards of production during this last operation can be costly.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

8 - Film savings - although the key to stretch wrapping is to make sure that the product arrives at the customer intact, all suppliers want to do it for the least amount of cost.

With a machine set to wrap the loads with the least amount of stretch film required to hold the load together, the supplier eliminates unnecessary extra revolutions of film being applied by well meaning operators.

More film does not hold the load better, it is just waste.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

9 - Damaged hand wrap rolls - an expensive hidden cost of hand wrapping is the cost of all the rolls of stretch film that are thrown away because they have been nicked or damaged when thrown to the ground or left lying around.

This cost can sometimes be as much as 15-20% of a supplier's hand wrap costs.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

10 - Quality control - by definition, hand wrapping a pallet manually prevents the supplier from realising any type of repeatability.

Multiple operators, time of day, fatigue and many other variables prevent any type of QC standards.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine allows the supplier to either eliminate, or preset these variables.

This ensures repeatability, allowing loads to be wrapped to a set quality standard.

Pallet wrapping with a stretch wrap machine eliminates this issue.

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