How a Pallet Stretch Wrapper Can Reduce Shipping Damages?
Have you ever opened a shipment to find your products spoilt with moisture, shifted, or damaged entirely? Shipping damages are a tremendous hassle in logistics, whether they happen from loads moving during the journey, vibration from the vehicles and ships, or just dust and moisture. Who should account for the damages?
What if you could protect your goods with the easiest, most reliable method there is? That is what a pallet wrapping machine does. By tightly binding your products with stretch film, a pallet wrapping machine will protect the products from shifting, and exposing your products to environmental hazards.
This is going to save you a lot of time and money. Let’s discover how a pallet wrapping machine can make your shipments safer and push your business into another level of efficiency.
Common Causes of Shipping Damages
Nowadays, shipping damage has increased because of poor loading, not securely wrapping, or rough handling, which leads to late deliveries.
Here are some common causes of shipping damages that you can avoid-
- Load shifting
While loading the pallets, they can fall or lean because of poor and insecure packaging. Sudden stops, turns, and uneven roads can harm the product, which leads to repacking and refunding, which in turn leads to time loss and money loss.
- Vibration
Long-distance transportation is often riskier for items to get damaged. Because of rough roads and turns, the pallets can move, even the smallest vibration can make the packaging loose and fall if not wrapped properly.
- Moisture
Moisture can ruin packaging, especially items like electronics, papers, foods, or pharmaceuticals. If the product is not wrapped correctly, then it has a high chance of getting mold, damage, or product spoilage.
- Impacts
During loading and shipping, if the pallets are not wrapped properly, they can get bumped, scratched, or even hit by something like a forklift. Without proper wrapping, items can break, get scratched, fall from the stack of pallets, etc.
How Pallet Stretch Wrappers Prevent Damage?
If pallets are not packed securely, then they can slip while shopping. Pallet stretch wrappers prevent the risk of damage because of their strength and tight wrapping.
- Secure items tightly to prevent movement
While transporting, stacks of items can move due to sudden turns, stops, and bumps, which can harm the items if not secured tightly. Stretch wrapping machine stretches the film to its original size before wrapping it around the pallets tightly, securing it, and preventing harm.
- Protects against dust and moisture
Other than movements during transportation, there are also other things that are harmful, like dust and moisture, because of environmental exposure. For long-distance shipping or storing, packaging needs to be good, not only to prevent any movement but also to protect against dust and moisture.
Types of Pallet Wrappers for Damage Prevention
The designs of wrappers play a big role, especially according to the size of the product. Choosing the right type of pallet stretch wrapper can be important not only for speed and efficiency but also to prevent shipping damage.
Here are some types of pallet wrapping machine–
- Automatic vs. semi-automatic wrappers
Semi-automatic stretch wrappers are not fully automatic, but it does the work with speed and efficiency. These machines need an operator to place the pallet or stacks of items on the turntable, and sometimes they also need to change the film roll.
Automatic stretch wrappers don’t need any involvement of any operator; it does the work all by themselves, from placing the pallet on the turntable to wrapping and securing it. Both of the stretch wrappers do the work with speed and efficiency.
- Rotary arm vs. turntable wrappers
In the Rotary arm, a pallet of items stays in its place while the wrapping arm rotates around it, making it stable and wrapped tightly. This is usually used for heavy items that are not easy to rotate or move.
Turntable wrappers are commonly used for lightweight items. In this, the pallet sits on a turntable platform and rotates while the film moves vertically. It’s most commonly used for fragile and light weighted items.
Case Study/Stats on Reduced Damages:
- ITC Limited (Juice Manufacturing Unit) regularly uses 200-250 Pallet loads per day. This was initially operated by single-use stretch film. After switching to reusable Pallet wraps, they saw significant reduction in plastic waste & paper wrapping cost.
- UPL Chemical Agrochemical Company processes about 250 pallets per day. They wanted to lower their plastic waste and safer movement so they switched to Pallet Wraps in 2018.
Best Practices for Optimal Wrapping:
Using the stretch wrapping machine correctly is important; otherwise, even the best stretch wrapping can’t prevent damage.
Here are the best practices for optimal wrapping-
- Proper film tension and overlap techniques.
Tension refers to how much pressure the stretched film has while wrapping the pallet. If the film is too loose then the load can shift or collapse, and if the film is too tight, then it can crush the pallet or fragile items. These techniques are required to learn about proper film tension.
- Choosing the right film thickness.
Film thickness is important because it reduces the damage to the products. This plays a key role in how much weight and pressure the film can handle. For lightweight items, like tissue boxes, bottles can be wrapped in thinner film, while others can be wrapped according to their weight, which saves material.
Conclusion:
Damage during shipping is a major problem in logistics. Every time a product gets damaged during shipping, it leads to repacking, refunding, loss, and dissatisfied customers. This not only affects cost because of replacement and refund, but it also affects the trust of customers in the brand reputation and trust in long-term deals.
By employing a pallet wrapping machine, you can provide your products with the protection they require against shifting, impact, and moisture during shipment. With the right machine and wrapping methods, you can prevent product loss, save money and improve customer satisfaction.
Purchasing a pallet wrapping machine is not just about saving from damages, it’s about improving the logistics process and providing greater reliability of your product as well. Request a demo today and see for yourself how a pallet wrapping machine can improve your operations.
