For many companies in the chemical, building materials or food industries, the efficient packaging of palletized goods is a deciding competitive factor. Some of the crucial factors are transport security, anti-theft protection, display characteristics of the packaged goods and weatherproofing for outside storage. Additional key considerations are process efficiency and cost reduction (energy and material consumption), as well as system output (the number of pallets that can be packaged during a specific amount of time). All of this needs to be taken into account to determine the perfect packaging technology, as noted in a new report published by an industry leader. Stretch hooding has proven to be particularly efficient in comparison with other techniques.
The technical report from Beumer Group (Somerset, NJ), a global company specializing in intralogistics related to conveying, loading, palletizing, packaging, sorting and distribution technologies, helps manufacturers select the optimal and most cost-efficient palletized packaging for their goods, whether that's wrapping, shrinking or stretching. Palletizing and packaging play a particularly important role in any industry to ensure that goods are delivered in optimal condition to customers. When shipping any type of palletized dry good such as cement, flour or cocoa powder, special protection is needed against atmospheric influences and humidity during transport and storage.
Film packaging for pallets was developed by a German chemical producer in the mid-1960s: Film is shrunk to fit perfectly around the palletized goods, which, after it cools down, creates the necessary stability to secure the load. The shrinking method is particularly suited for products that are sensitive to elastic packaging stacking, such as glass, and the goods are protected against environmental impacts such as snow, rain, UV radiation, dust and insects.
There are other options, as well, such as stretch wrapping and stretch-hood technology, which is a combination of the film-hood and stretch-wrapping techniques. Stretch-hood wrapping guarantees high load stability.
The technical report from Beumer Group compares packaging solutions, so that readers can determine the method that is best suited for the types of materials being shipped. The report, titled "Optimal protection, optimal cost efficiency," is available online.
