How to choose a banding machine?

If you are wrapping more than a few pallets a day, you may need a machine to help your operators. And the more you wrap, the more this is true. However, given the investment that such a machine represents, it is important to make an informed choice that is perfectly suited to your real logistical needs.Find out in this article what ROI you can expect from a wrapping machine, as well as the essential elements for choosing the machine that is right for you

1. What ROI can I expect from a stretch wrapper?
2. Which wrapping machines exist?
3. What questions should you ask yourself when choosing a wrapping machine?

vISUAL

What ROI can you expect from a stretch wrapper?

This is a difficult question to answer and one that many logistics managers ask themselves outright. The ROI of a stretch wrapper will vary from company to company and from situation to situation. However, there are four main areas of savings that can be achieved through the use of a stretch wrapper in the warehouse

1. Reorganisation of teams: By installing a wrapping machine, you can free some of your operators from the tedious task of wrapping, or avoid employing subcontractors to carry out this task.
2. Reduced absenteeism in the warehouse: As a key tool in the fight against Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD), the banding machine theoretically reduces the number of sick days related to the banding activity.
3. The saving of raw material on the film used. This is particularly the case if you did not previously use pre-stretched film for your manual pallet wrapping. This will also contribute to your objectives of more ecological logistics.
4. The quality of the wrapping, and therefore the savings in terms of returns costs: a well-wrapped pallet is a pallet that will satisfy the customer who receives it, with less risk of breakage and therefore of product returns.

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With our customers who have a high palletising rate (from 100 pallets per day), we observe a very interesting ROI on the use of palletising film. Without a machine, we are at around 800g of film used per pallet. With a machine, we fall to 120g per pallet. We then realise that the cost of the machine pays for itself very quickly, sometimes in just one year with some of our customers.”

Thierry Rousselot, Sales Director at ROBOPAC Machinery All this is without counting, of course, the increase in palletising rate, which will allow you to potentially increase the productivity of your warehouse, and therefore be able to develop your activity significantly

Welcome financial aid for the acquisition of a film wrapping machineThe “Filmeuse+” Simplified Financial Aid is aimed at companies with fewer than 50 employees. It amounts to 50% of the investment and is capped at €25,000. A godsend for anyone wishing to finance the fight against MSDs in the warehouse.Find out more about Filmeuse+ aid

which filming machines exist?

There are three types of technology for filming pallets

1. The turntable filming machine – eligible for AFS Filmeuse+
2. Rotating arm wrapping machine – eligible for AFS Filmeuse+
3. Wrapping robot – not eligible for AFS Filmeuse+

1. Turntable wrapping machine

• The turntable wrapper is less expensive than the rotary arm wrapper; for the same features.
• The floor plate requires more space than a rotating arm.
• The mast can be raised (up to 3.1 m) for high pallets.

2. Rotating arm wrapping machine

• The machine must be fixed to the floor
• When the machine is stationary, it saves a significant amount of space compared to a turntable
• The height under the machine limits the height of the pallets (maximum height: 2.75 m).

3. The banding robot

reminder: this machine is not eligible for the Simplified Financial Assistance “Filmeuse+“

• Unlike the other two types of wrapping machine, the robot adapts perfectly to oversize pallets
• It also saves a lot of space compared to arm and turntable wrapping machines because you can store it wherever you want after operation
• The mobility of the robot allows you to palletise wherever you want

What are the advantages of the motorised pre-stretching option?he pre-stretching option is available on all wrapping machines and is recommended primarily to companies processing a minimum of 50 pallets/day, and therefore consuming a lot of film and/or handling light (up to 40 kg) or fragile pallets the motorised pre-stretching carriage allows you to use technical films from 150% to 400%. You can stretch a film from 1 m to 5 m (for a 400% film). You therefore save on the film used per pallet, with optimum filming quality and load retention.

what questions should I ask myself when choosing a wrapping machine?

As you have no doubt understood, the choice of your wrapping machine will depend on the specific needs of your logistics activity. Before making your choice, you should ask yourself some key questions

• How much space do you have in your warehouse? A turntable wrapping machine will need much more floor space than a rotating arm wrapping machine which will take up more space when in operation. The machine that saves you the most space however is the wrapping robot.
• Ifyou want to bring the machine to the pallet, choose the banding robot first.
• What type of pallet are you filming? If you are filming non-standard pallets, you will need to choose a banding robot. Similarly, if you need to raise the pallet to film it, you will need to choose a machine fed with a specific ramp, often a rotating arm filming machine.
• What is the value of the products you are wrapping? A rotary arm wrapping machine puts more strain on the products than another type of machine: make sure you choose another type of machine if your products are particularly fragile.
• How fast do you want to film? If you need to film a large number of pallets all day long, a wrapping robot (which runs on battery power and needs to be recharged regularly) will not be the best option, whereas turntable filmers, which run on the warehouse’s electrical power, will be able to film continuously.
• What is the environment of your warehouse? For example, if the floor of your warehouse needs to be cleaned regularly (food industry), you will have to choose a rotating arm filming machine or a robot, to avoid retention zones on the floor.

What if you were to try out a rental stretch wrapper?With a lesser commitment in terms of cash flow, the rental of a stretch wrapper allows you to test a model over a defined period of time, which will be validated by the teams.Discover all the machines available for rental, or contact a RAJA machine expert directly to study this solution: rajasystem@raja.fr | 01 49 90 49 99

“Thierry Rousselot, Sales Director at ROBOPAC Machinery

Need

to choose your stretch wrapper with precision? Download our choice guide, which summarises the different criteria to be taken into account for each type of machine. CTA STRETCH WRAPPING CHOICE GUIDE