How to Choose stretch film wholesale?

It's time to pack and ship your products, and you're unsure which stretch wrap is right for you. Have no fear-- Mr. Shrinkwrap is here! Whether you are packaging products to ship or wrapping equipment for storage, with the proper guidance in this article, you will be able to choose the very best stretch wrap for the job-- ensuring a safe transit for your products, limiting the amount of wrap used/money spent on each pallet or job, and providing maximum safety and efficiency for your company's employees.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit our website.

What Is Stretch Wrap Gauge ?

Gauge is a measure of a stretch wrap's thickness. Generally, the higher the gauge, the higher its resistance to breakage. General purpose 80-gauge wrap is the industry standard, and can secure loads up to 2,400 lbs.

Higher gauge wraps tend to be more expensive, but are thicker and do not need to be wrapped around as many times on a job.

Gauge can be converted into mils, microns or other units. Here is a conversion chart:

Gauge

Mil

Micron

Millimeter

Inch

35

0.35

8.9

0.

0.

45

0.45

11.4

0.

0.

50

0.50

12.7

0.

0.

60

0.60

15.2

0.

0.

80

0.80

20.3

0.

0.

100

1.00

25.4

0.

0.001

120

1.20

30.5

0.

0.

150

1.50

38.1

YH Package are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.

0.

0.

180

1.80

45.7

0.

0.

200

2.00

50.8

0.

0.002

Popular Stretch Wrap Gauges

37 Gauge: A pre-stretch wrap suitable for light, uniform loads of up to 800 lbs

60 Gauge: A light true-gauged film suitable for light to medium loads up to 1,600 pounds.

80 Gauge: A versatile, medium-duty true-gauged film for loads up to 2,400 pounds. This is the most common stretch film thickness.

100 Gauge: A heavier-duty true-gauged film that can hold loads up to 3,000 pounds. Machine stretch wrap in this gauge can be used to wrap pallets of heavy, irregular objects such as steel beams or 55-gallon drums.

150 Gauge: A heavy-duty true-gauged stretch film for extremely heavy loads, loads with many sharp points or corners, and heavy irregular objects that may shift during transit. Typically must be machine-applied to achieve proper tension.

Types of Stretch Wrap

• Pre-Stretched Stretch Wrap has been mechanically stretched prior to rolling, so it is thinner than its true-gauged equivalent. Pre-stretching 80-gauge film results in a 37-gauge pre-stretch film. This creates a lighter wrap, but with a similar hold to its true-gauge counterpart.
• True-Gauge Stretch Wrap has not been pre-stretched. The thickness it has afte the extrusion process is the thickness it has on the roll.
• Hand Films are great for small shipping and containment applications, and can be used to bundle items, or hold items in place on a pallet. A single operator can wrap a pallet with hand film in just a few minutes by stretching the film while walking around the pallet. Hand wrapping is typically ideal for those who unitize less than 10 pallets per day, have decentralized warehousing or need a backup to powered stretch wrapping equipment.

• Opaque/Product Concealing Wraps are completely solid in color, not clear or tinted. These wraps provide privacy, conceal shipments, and help to prevent theft.
• Corrosion Inhibiting Wraps protect shipments that are prone to corrode from moisture.
• Anti-Static Wraps protect shipments that contain sensitive electronics from static discharge.
• Machine Film is used with powered stretch wrapping equipment. There are several different types of powered stretch wrapping equipment available today. The most common are rotary spiral pre-stretch machines. The Rotary Spiral Pre-Stretch machine wraps the pallet load in a spiral fashion using film widths of 20' or 30'.
• Colored/Tinted Stretch Film is used to organize and identify pallets and products.

Things to Consider When Choosing Your Stretch Wrap

• The weight of the load. The heavier the load, the stronger your stretch wrap gauge will need to be.
• The shape of the load. Uniform loads, such as pallets of same-size boxes, require less holding power and durability (and a lower gauge) than highly irregular or unstable loads with lots of sharp corners and edges.

• Do you and your staff have the proper tools and training? Large, heavy, and oddly shaped items that require high-gauge stretch wrap may require the use of stretch-wrapping machines in order to be wrapped safely and efficiently. These machines unfortunately are not typically cheap, and you want to make sure that any staff using such machines is properly trained in order to maximize the machine's benefits and prevent any workplace incidents. (For wrapping of any kind, proper training is also highly recommended to save money long-term; if an employee is over-using stretch wrap on each load, or using a thicker and more expensive wrap than is needed, over time these costs will add up!)
• Do my products have special needs? Some products need added protection from one thing or another, and this needs to be put into consideration when wrapping. For example, certain electronics might benefit from anti-static wraps, and more expensive products may benefit from opaque wraps to better conceal their value. Consider everything before finalizing your stretch wrap purchase.
• Do I need a stretch wrapping machine? You will need to evaluate your shipping volume, staff size, and product types in order to answer this question. There are all types of machinery you can purchase to help apply your stretch wrap thoroughly and efficiently. Certain large, bulky, and oddly shaped products will highly benefit from the uniform tension of machine-applied stretch wrapping.

Stretch film is a critical part of a packaging process that has a direct impact on product safety & integrity.  

Without the right film for your load, you risk damage to products and injury to employees. But the stretch film gauge you choose also has a surprisingly large impact on profitability and sustainability.

Given the large volume of stretch film required for sufficient load containment, companies are always looking for ways to trim film expenses.

Some might think they have to sacrifice productivity or quality to reduce costs.   But there doesn't always have to be a trade-off.  It's possible to cut costs, contribute to sustainability, and accelerate throughput. 

But only if you assess your packaging operation holistically. By looking at the big picture, you can discover better packaging solutions that support your business goals.

Read on to learn how to 'rite-gauge' your stretch film.

Do more with less.  That's the promise of down-gauging.

To down gauge a stretch film means switching to a product that has a slightly thinner thickness, but with similar load containment properties as the wrap currently in use. Thinner films require less material. By reducing materials, you also reduce costs and increase profits.

But what about quality?  Doesn't a thinner stretch wrap introduce the risk of shifting loads and other packaging issues?

It can ' if you choose a low-quality, low gauge stretch wrap that doesn't meet the requirements of your load.

We see this all the time.  We've worked with customers that have cut corners to save a little bit of money on film only to introduce larger issues with packaging quality.

The key is to find the right low-gauge stretch film. 

New innovations in polymers and additives make it possible to achieve superior load containment, clarity, and ease of application at lower gauges than previously possible.

At Crown Packaging, we partner with leading stretch film manufacturers to give our customers access to the latest innovations and the best films available.

There are many stretch film products available and it can be confusing, so consider us a resource to help you explore your options.

The common advice when it comes to stretch film is 'thinner is better.' 

The idea is that by reducing the thickness or gauge of the film you can reduce costs.  This is true in many situations, but not always.

For example, we met with a customer who is a big manufacturer of consumer goods, during the site visit, we took a look at their stretch wrap process.

The operations manager was bragging about how he has uses the thinnest stretch film. 'I got 39 gauge film,' he said. 'Nobody's in my industry uses thinner film in than me.'

As we're watching the stretch wrapper going up and down, wrapping the product multiple times, he goes on to say, 'I just wish I could speed the process up a little bit.'

'You absolutely can,' I said. 'Why don't you go to an 80 gauge film.  Go thicker so you just have to run the film up and down once.'

For this particular customer, going up in size was the right move. By upgrading his film we were able to help increase the quantity of products shipped.

We were also able to help them reduce costs and support their sustainability goals.

Why?  Because we were able to provide a better packaging solution while reducing the amount of materials used overall.

Because the concept of upgrading to a thicker, more expensive film is somewhat counter-intuitive when the objective is to reduce costs, we like to do a 'cut and weigh test' to illustrate how this is possible.

We'll cut the film off of a wrapped pallet using their current product, ball it up, and weigh it.  Then we'll wrap the skid with the new film we recommend, and do the same thing ' cut the stretch film off the pallet, wad it up, weigh it, and compare it to the original film. 

Because the thicker film requires fewer revolutions around the load, it involves less material.

This is an easy way to see the material reduction and understand how upgrading your film can sometimes be the right solution to help reduce costs and your company's carbon footprint.

Take a look at at rite-gauging analysis in action in this video:

Are you interested in learning more about stretch film wholesale? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!