10 Things to Consider When Buying reel wrapping machine

In today’s competitive market, efficient and reliable packaging is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. For businesses across diverse industries, Plastic Wrapping Machine have become indispensable tools, ensuring product protection, secure transport, and optimized storage. But with a multitude of options available, choosing the right machine can be a complex task. This guide delves into the essential factors to consider when making this critical decision, helping you find the perfect match for your specific needs.

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1. Defining Your Packaging Requirements:

Before embarking on your search for the ideal machine, take a step back and define your specific packaging needs. This involves understanding your product types, packaging goals, and production volume. Consider these crucial questions:

• Product Characteristics: What are the sizes, shapes, and weights of the products you need to wrap? Are they fragile, susceptible to damage, or require tamper-evident packaging?
• Packaging Goals: What are your primary objectives for packaging? Are you aiming for product protection, tamper-proofing, secure transport, or attractive presentation?
• Production Volume: How many products do you need to wrap on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? This will directly impact the machine’s required speed and capacity.

2. Choosing the Right Wrap Type:

Once you have a clear understanding of your packaging needs, you can narrow down the type of plastic wrapping best suited for your application. Two common types stand out:

• Stretch Film: Stretch film is a highly versatile option, widely used for securing palletized goods, bundles, and individual products. It offers excellent puncture resistance, tear strength, and load stability, ensuring secure transport and protection against external damage.
• Shrink Film: Shrink film is ideal for creating tamper-evident and secure packages. When heated, it shrinks tightly around the product, providing a strong and aesthetically pleasing seal. It’s often preferred for grouping products, creating tamper-resistant bundles, and enhancing product presentation.

3. Optimizing Efficiency with Bottom Roll Packing:

For those seeking precision and efficiency in their wrapping process, the Bottom Roll Packing with Holding System offers a significant advantage. This innovative system ensures the product remains securely in place during the wrapping process, minimizing slippage and maximizing wrapping efficiency. This system is particularly beneficial for:

• Fragile Products: Providing extra support and protection for delicate items, ensuring they remain intact during transport and handling.
• Irregularly Shaped Items: Ensuring a secure and consistent wrap for products with varying dimensions, minimizing the risk of damage or loose packaging.
• High-Volume Production: Streamlining the wrapping process, reducing downtime and increasing output, optimizing production efficiency.

4. Automating Pallet Wrapping:

For businesses handling large quantities of palletized goods, Auto pallet Wrapper Machines are essential for achieving maximum efficiency and productivity. These machines automatically wrap pallets with stretch film, ensuring secure load stability and minimizing labor costs. When choosing an Auto pallet Wrapper Machine, consider these crucial factors:

• Pallet Size and Weight: The machine must be capable of handling the dimensions and weight of the pallets you need to wrap.
• Film Type: Choose the appropriate stretch film based on the specific requirements of your products and the environment they will be exposed to.
• Automation Level: Select a machine with the level of automation that aligns with your production needs. Some machines offer basic automation, while others provide advanced features like automatic film tension control and pallet height detection.

5. Machine Features and Considerations:

Beyond basic functionality, consider these additional features when making your decision:

• Control Panel: A user-friendly control panel is essential for efficient operation. Look for machines with intuitive interfaces, clear displays, and customizable settings that allow for easy adjustments and control.
• Safety Features: Keeping people safe should always come first. Choose a machine equipped with essential safety features like emergency stops, guards, and warning lights to minimize the risk of accidents and ensure a secure working environment.
• Maintenance and Support: Ensure that the machine provider offers readily available spare parts, maintenance services, and technical support. A reliable support network is crucial for minimizing downtime and ensuring long-term performance.

A simple guide to choosing a wrapping machine

Packaging is a consolidated need for product protection during handling, blocking unstable products on pallets, protecting products from atmospheric agents and any situation that requires the use of external film. However, choosing a wrapping machine is not always easy.

There are many types of packaging, Effe3Ti mainly deals with winding, heat shrinkage in chamber furnaces and systems strapping and canning.

It is essential for the customer who wants to consider purchasing a machine to have an easy-to-use guide to help him choose the right machine.

Automatic or Semi-automatic?

The first factor to consider when choosing a wrapping machine is the amount of work it will be subjected to. Generally speaking, you can choose a machine semi-automatic when the amount of work reaches a maximum of 20 pallets/h processed, while a machine automatic It turns out to be the right choice for 50 pallets/h and beyond.

• The automatic machines are characterized by completely autonomous operation with automatic loading, starting, cycle and unloading. The automatic machine must be protected with nets and with “muting” safety barriers as required by current legislation in order to safeguard the operator during the cycle phase. Effe3Ti supplies, upon request, automatic lines complete with chain or roller transport, with all the safety systems required by the regulations (including non-EEC EN markets).
• The semi-automatic machines are characterized by the versatility of use in any condition the Customer must operate, they have the possibility of having a "forkable" frame to be easily transported from one production department to another and there is also the version for a rotary table shaped to accommodate forklift forks. The loading and unloading of the package to be wrapped are the responsibility of the operator as is the cycle start button located on the control panel on the machine column. Semi-automatic machines do not require the use of safety nets since the speeds of the movements in play on the machine are all lower than those defined by the regulations and, during the design phase, solutions were studied to make each movement safe.

Table or Rotating Arm? …or Self-Propelled Robot?

The second factor that we can consider when choosing a wrapping machine is the choice of the type of machine. The two main large families include a rotary table or a rotating armIn the first, the pallet of product is loaded onto a table that rotates to allow for wrapping, while in the second, the pallet remains stationary while an arm rotates around it, applying the stretch film.

For more reel wrapping machineinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

• We generally use a machine with rotary table when the weight of our pallet of product to be wrapped does not exceed / kg. The load capacity of a rotating table has a limit and even if reinforced above a certain weight it becomes necessary to turn to another type of pallet wrapper.
• We generally use a machine with rotating arm when the weight of the pallet to be wrapped exceeds / kg. However, this is not the only reason. In fact, although table machines, especially automatic ones, are equipped with very advanced rotation management systems, it may be right to orient yourself towards the rotating arm when we are dealing with very unstable products.

A separate discussion must be made regarding the self-propelled pallet wrappers (robots). These special machines, in fact, are equipped with wheels and powered by high-performance batteries that allow them to be moved wherever you want. They are not “minor” machines at all, in fact they can automatically wrap the pallet of product according to advanced wrapping programs. Choosing a self-propelled wrapping machine allows you to wrap your products without having to move them.

Do we save stretch film?

It is not only an ecological choice to opt for a saving of stretch film. The consumer product has in fact a significant impact on the company's logistics expenses and represents a "hidden cost". Let's see what the possibilities are.

Film consumption depends on the type of reel holder installed on the pallet wrapper. The economic model has a reel holder group with pre-stretch (this is the name that defines the group that supports the reel and dispenses the processed film between the rollers on the package to be wrapped) mechanical or with magnetic brake. This model has only the tension adjustment of the film between the machine and the package.

The best performing model is definitely the motorized pre-stretching, available with one or two engines.

The motorized pre-stretch with a motor has a fixed pre-stretch ratio, obtained by distributing the motion of the rollers with gear wheels. Different types of pre-stretch ratios can be obtained based on the reduction ratio between the gear wheels (ratio that can be modified by replacing the pair of gears) i.e. if 100mm of film is unwound from the reel, after passing between the motorized rollers it will reach a length of 300mm (in the 200% ratio) with a significant film savings. The pre-stretching with two motors easily reaches a ratio of 400%.

The film can be placed manually on the package to be wrapped (in semi-automatic machines) or a pair of clamps locks the film on the rotating table for dragging during the wrapping cycle.

Film cutting can be manual or automatic with hot wire enabled only during the cycle, at the pre-set time.

The sealing of the film flap that remains at the end of the cycle is done either manually or automatically based on the Customer's needs. The sealing pad, at a temperature of 115°C, automatically seals the film flap on the film previously wrapped on the package. If the package to be wrapped is not homogeneous, a contrast plate for the welder is placed between the pad and the package in order to protect the product.

What do I need to choose a wrapping machine?

Having said all this, which is the best machine? In reality, the most sensible advice is to tell one of our qualified technicians what you need, who will certainly be able to suggest the right solution. There are countless needs and just as many possibilities for managing them, perhaps combining the machine with one or more accessories that make it perfect for the job that needs to be done.

A (incomplete) list in short:

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