How to Properly Use Pallet Packaging to Secure Your Cargo

X1000 Rotary Arm Fully Automatic Pallet Wrapping Machine

Whether your products are shipped by land, sea or air, they face a very real risk of damage during transit. When packing a palletized box with pallet wrappers, there are several steps you can take to ensure a successful and safe package. Read on to learn more about how to properly shrink pallets and secure your shipments.

Evaluate and load

When initially loading your product on a pallet packaging machine, don't try to stack too many boxes to try to save a few dollars in shipping costs. You may do the opposite.

Before loading pallets into a pallet wrapper, you need to evaluate the stability of your product by learning how to calculate pallet loading capacity. A general rule of thumb is that the heavier the load the more unstable it is and the more stretch film you should use.

Initial Setup

After you have loaded the pallets with boxes and placed them on the pallet wrapper, go to the control panel on the pallet wrapper and make the following adjustments.

Spin Speed

Set it to the proper level. Go too fast and you may risk overturning the load.

Carriage speeds

You should set them to optimize film coverage across the load height. If you set the speed too fast, you may leave uncovered gaps. Too slow and you may waste film.

Film Force Tension

Another basic setting that you need to dial in to get the pallet wrapped correctly. Set the film force tension so that the applied film will hold on to the product. If you set it too tight, you could risk film tearing, which could result in crushing the box.

How much is too much?

As a general rule of thumb, standard box loads weighing less than 2,000 pounds should not have more than ~3 turns of top and bottom wrap set up. Of course, in some cases you will need to use more film, but be careful not to waste time and money on too much stretch film.

Testing

For the first pallet load, you should perform an initial test. This will take a little time, but once you're up to speed, you'll have a good idea of what speed you'll need when packing subsequent pallets.

In general, it's best to start with slower speeds on the turntable and carriage, and then gradually increase to faster speeds. This will help reduce the likelihood of film tearing on the pallet or load and give you a better idea of how much film to apply.

When wrapping is complete, pay special attention to the bottom wrap to help secure the load to the pallet. Additional top wrap turns can also help with unstable loads.

Smart Wasp Intelligent Technology focuses on designing, researching and manufacturing intelligent pallet wrapping machine and providing packaging automation solutions. For more information, please do not hesitate and check here to contact us.