How To Choose a Shrink Wrap Machine
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Choosing a shrink wrap machine can be daunting when first considered but here are a few good tips to help you determine how to choose the right Shrink Wrap Machine for you.
Two main questions must be considered to start the journey.
What is your volume?
What is the size of your product?
What is your volume?
This first question helps us determine whether your needs require only manual machines (for low volume) , All-In-One Shrink wrappers for medium volume, or highly automated machines (when other shrink wrap machines just won’t do).
When You Have Low-Volume Shrink Wrapping Requirements
Manual Shrink Wrapping
For low-volume shrink wrapping that still provides the professional finish, a manual shrink wrap machine such as the Shrink-A-Pack may be all that is required.
The process is manual: shrink wrap film is pulled from the roll dispenser, the product is placed inside the film, and the film is sealed using the straight sealing bar. Then use the attached heat gun to shrink the film around the product and create the finished heat shrink wrap.
Get Packed offers Shrink-A-Pack in 300mm, 450mm, 600mm, and 900mm sizes, so the size you need depends mainly on the dimensions of the products being wrapped.
Because each product is sealed and shrunk individually, this type of shrink-wrapping machine is generally suited to businesses wrapping relatively small quantities at a time.
When You Have Medium-Volume Shrink Wrapping Requirements
All-In-One Shrink Wrappers
This is for regular shrink-wrapping demand, but a single-item machine doesn’t suit the volume. Here, we suggest an All-In-One L-bar Sealer and Shrink Chamber (all-in-one hooded machine) Shrink Wrapper. The process is semi-automatic: the heat-shrink wrap is pulled from the roll dispenser, the product is placed inside the film, then the product and film are pulled into the shrink chamber, and the chamber is lowered. This then goes through a 2-step process: when you place the chamber lid down, you use an L-Bar sealer to seal the 2 open sides of the film as well as activate the heat that shrinks the wrap around the product. When the shrink is complete, the chamber automatically opens. This process is significantly faster than the manual Shrink-a-Pack machine, which can handle much higher volumes at a faster speed. It takes approximately 8 seconds from placing the product into the film to the chamber releasing a finished product. All-in-one shrink-wrapping machines are available in a range of sizes, with the most important size being the chamber dimensions, as the product must fit to enable the shrinking process.
When your product is too big for an All-In-One and/or you require more automation due to higher volumes
Semi Automatic Shrink Wrap Machines
If your product is too large to fit within the chamber of an all-in-one shrink wrapper, or your production volume has increased beyond what a chamber machine can comfortably handle, the next option to consider is a semi-automatic shrink wrap machine which uses a separate L-bar sealer and heat shrink tunnel together.
With this type of shrink-wrapping machine, the sealing and shrinking processes are carried out separately. The operator places the product inside the shrink wrap film and positions it within the L-bar sealer. Once the film is sealed, the product is transferred onto a conveyor and passes through the heat shrink tunnel, where controlled heat shrinks the film around the product.
Because the next product can be prepared and sealed while the previous one is travelling through the shrink tunnel, this setup allows for a more continuous workflow and higher production volumes than an all-in-one chamber machine.
A separate L-bar sealer and shrink tunnel can also accommodate larger products, depending on the machine's sealing area and the heat shrink tunnel's opening dimensions. When choosing between semi-automatic shrink wrap machines, the main things to check are the maximum product size, L-bar sealing dimensions, tunnel opening size and the number of packs you need to shrink wrap per hour. Depending on your product size, some semi-automatic shrink wrap machines can process around 1200 packs per hour.
When You Require Higher-Volume or Continuous Shrink Wrapping
Automatic Shrink Wrap Machines
When production volumes increase to the point where manual loading and sealing become the limiting factor, an automatic shrink wrap machine may be the next step.
Automatic shrink-wrap machines reduce the amount of operator involvement involved in the sealing process and are designed for faster, more continuous production. Depending on the application, this may involve an automatic L-bar sealer and shrink tunnel, an automatic continuous side seal shrink wrapping machine, or a more specialised form-fill-seal shrink wrapping system. Get Packed’s range includes each of these machine types, allowing the system to match the required product size, film type, and production speed.
With an automatic L-bar shrink wrapper, products are fed into the machine, and the film is automatically sealed around each pack before travelling through the heat shrink tunnel. This removes the need for the operator to manually lower or activate the sealing bar for every product and allows for a more consistent production flow.
For higher speeds, or where products vary considerably in length, a continuous side seal shrink wrapper may be more suitable. Rather than using a fixed L-bar seal around each product, the machine continuously seals the film along the side as products move through the system. This makes continuous side seal machines particularly useful where a production line needs to handle a wide range of product lengths without continually changing the sealing area.
When choosing an automatic shrink-wrapping machine, consider not only the required packs per hour, but also the maximum product width, height and length, film type, conveyor speed, shrink tunnel dimensions and how the machine will fit into the existing production line. The level of automation required will ultimately depend on how much product needs to be shrink-wrapped and how much operator handling you want to remove from the process.
