Stretch film is usually a commodity, but one producer is touting the performance of its product and marketing it like an engineering grade. Easiwrap Intl. Corp. has developed a stretch film that performs like shrink wrap, but with easier application and less waste. Claimed benefits include 15% lower overall cost.

The company, in Belleville, nj, terms the product, Easiwrap, an “engineered pallet wrap.” Al Striano, executive vp. of sales and marketing, says it’s a pre-stretched hand film. It is loosely applied to a pallet. Then, a worker tugs each corner to initiate the shrink process. In 30 min, the wrap becomes a shrink film with high force-to-load ratio.

Striano says these properties derive from a polyethylene compound the company developed, which is processed into blown film and pre-stretched in a special winding process. He declines to reveal details about the compound or the process, but says the film maintains elastic memory and has 300% bilateral stretch.

Striano claims that the film wraps loads so tight that workers use less than with conventional pallet wraps. Because the film has high inherent strength, users don’t need to specify different gages by load. Striano declines to discuss Easiwrap’s gage, but claims it outperforms 70-, 80-, and 90-gage wraps. The film is formulated for puncture- and nick-resistance to reduce waste from damage. Easiwrap also weighs less than competitive wraps – a 1500- to 2000-ft roll weighs about half that of conventional hand wrap.

The company offers two other products. Superstretch is a machine-grade wrap that can be stretched 300% and yields force-to-load pressure of 30 psi. Wraptight is a conventional hand film with high strength that competes with 120-gage and heavier films.

Easiwrap Intl. Corp.’s manufacturing is at a plant with three lines in Dublin, Ireland, where the developer, Philip Doran, is executive vp. of manufacturing and product development. Capacity is 1.5 million lb/mo. The company is owned by Striano, Doran, and Randy Swickle, who is president.

The film is available in Europe and North America. Striano says Easiwrap plans to add plants in the U.S. over the next three years, possibly in Cleveland, oh, the Southeast, and the Southwest. Longer-range, the company wants production established in Asia-Pacific.