What is Film Pre-Stretch and why you should care

What is film pre-stretch and why you should care:

First, lets take a look at how a powered pre-stretch carriage works on a stretch wrap machine. The carriage on a pre-stretch machine is composed of the film roll and multiple rollers that dispense the film as the pallet spins. It will also have a motor with two powered rubberized rollers. The film gets stretched by feeding through the powered rollers that are spinning at two different speeds. Typically machines will stretch the film up to 250% of the original length, thus decreasing the amount of film needed to wrap the pallet. By greatly reducing the amount of film needed to wrap each pallet you are eliminating wasted money on film. We have put together a return on investment sheet that shows estimated film savings and how quickly those savings can payoff the initial machine investment. The savings on film can typically payoff our machines within a year. The average price increase to get a pre-stretch carriage is $2000. There are other benefits when stretching film: 1) The film gets stronger as it is stretched 2) The film has memory so it will shrink back to the load to increase holding power.

Pre-stretch Carriage

1100AC Semi-Auto Stretch Wrap Machine

Mechanical Break Non-Pre-Stretch Carriage

Model 600 photo eye and mechanical brake tension

Here is a List of the machines we offer with pre-stretch:

Return on Investment Guide

Why Invest in a Stretch Wrap Machine?

In addition to the benefits of film savings with pre-stretch carriages there are other benefits when impelementing a stretch wrap machine.

  • Increased packaging throughput
  • Labor cost reduction or redeployment
  • Improved load containment and consistency
  • Reduced work place injuries vs. hand wrapping
  • Less film waste
  • Loads arrive with less loss and damage

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