The first time (in the 60s) was polypropylene and the shrink film followed. By the mid-1970s, the Stretch Film began to appear on the stage. Initially, neither PVC nor its laminates were much stretchable, but its intervention led to the first use of the hand-wrapping method, which largely replaced the steel belt or fixed pallet car load. The double strand used.
In the United States, the early pioneer was Lantec. In the United Kingdom, Inpack became a pioneer with its semi-automatic wrapping system with a turntable. By the mid-1980s, Inpack had introduced a variety of fully-automatic machines, including a wrap system with a swivel arm that could lift a pallet of goods completely at a speed of up to 60 boards/hour.
The Inpack production facility has a long history, but in the early 1980s, the first Ring system that entered the UK was designed and developed by Haloila in Finland.
The system film spool is mounted on the ring, and the ring can be moved back and forth along the height of the pallet load (the force to move the film from the slip ring). It is thought that it is not as complex as a swivel arm system and can be rotated very quickly under any circumstances, which caters to people's need to increase the speed of packaging.
The introduction of the “ring” system allowed Mancon to sell about 15 such devices each year throughout the 1980s. In the late 80's, due to the addition of Newtec (it has acquired Inpack and Haloila), ITW became the head of production and sales of the Haloila ring system in the UK.
In the early 1980s, LLDPE Mobil first introduced stretch film, which put all stretch wrapping technology one step further. The performance becomes more reliable, and the film stretches up to 200% even at high speeds.
Since then, the stretch film has continued to improve, and today, the 23-micron film produced by BPI, in some cases, can provide up to 300% reliability when operating at the highest speed on more complex packaging machines. Pre-stretching. These films have also been developed into other necessary suitable strips with good load support and breakdown resistance.
There are a variety of pallet racking options available in the UK market, many of which are still being improved.
From simple rotary turrets to bridge swivel arms to four-legged swivel arms and various ring systems, other developments include membrane tail sealing systems, fully automatic roll placement systems (even when the packaging machine is running ), top tablet press (can also be placed on top of the pallet when the machine is running) and top roll sheet placement.
The vast improvements in software have increased the communication and control capabilities of the production line and maximized the efficiency of the packaging line through the stacker to the warehouse.
The pallet packer has never seemed so important to the efficiency of the production line. Over time, the industry has gradually realized this. Considering the production line first, the days of stretching the wrapper as an auxiliary facility are gone forever. Similarly, the days of production line operators or supervisors not knowing how the packaging machines in the final stages of their production lines are running have long gone.
Manufacturers of ring systems have tried to make rings from different types of materials. Currently used rings are carbon fiber rings, aluminum rings and steel rings.
Robopac abandoned the traditional practice of using slide rings to provide power for dynamic stretching, and developed a patented generator system that provides enough energy to drive pretensioning equipment. This is a trouble-free system suitable for use in environments where there is a lot of dust in the air.
Due to improvements in film quality and capacity, packaging speeds have increased over the years as much as production demands. The fastest system (up to 50 rpm) can currently produce up to 90 full packages per hour under high load conditions of 2800 mm.
Some examples show that in some major plastic drum manufacturers, the ring system can load loads up to 120 per hour. Obviously, to achieve this speed, the software's capabilities are critical, and the fine-tuning needed is also largely dependent on the manufacturer's experience and capabilities.
While all technologies are focused on increasing speed, making more economical use of film and optimizing packaging, it is unsurprising that the main users of manual packaging films remain in the UK.
It may use the highest tonnage of European hand-wrap stretch film. At this level, not only is it costly, but also the quality of packaging is not high, it is difficult to provide true support or protection, nor can it meet the health and safety regulations. All those unsound packaging will continue to remind people to pay attention to this.
For this reason, in the entire manufacturing industry in the UK, semi-automatic steering has also gradually shifted to fully automatic operation.
The major suppliers have all noticed the trend toward systematization and automation. The production is transferred to a single automatic packaging machine instead of having a semi-automated system to handle all required operations on several production lines. As a result, many orders are biased towards the system. Facilities.
For major suppliers, it is more important to provide advice and advice to ensure that their investments are fully utilized. It is within this range that vendors with experience in procurement and supply will continue to dominate the market. Service and technical support are also important in the economic use of the pallet tensioning wrapping system.
While continuing to improve the performance of major packaging machines, existing methods of adapting production speed, layout and customer preferences continue to increase. At present, more and more professional engineers are able to choose the "correct" packaging machine according to actual needs. It is not always necessary to designate a certain "ring" system when the swivel arm is competently capable of working.
Here only a lot of aspects of the use of stretch film for pallet wrapping are examined in detail. Of course, there are many other aspects. Recently, other products have been fully utilized. One example is horizontal stretch packaging. Bundles of metal and plastic of different lengths and diameters can be bundled horizontally.
In the past 15 years, 2-3 suppliers have controlled this market. These horizontal rings are currently manufactured with a diameter of 3m and can be packaged automatically, for example, flat furniture or even plasterboard.
The most recent installation included a complete handling system capable of handling 3600mm long, 1220mm wide and 1200mm high panels - a huge package that was handled automatically. This installation saves a lot of money, and the packaging is as good as the previous method.
In this area, the film has been modified to have "sliding" capabilities on its outer surface, with the object being that items such as doors can be slid out of the outlet when packed in a store.
Many of these products were previously packaged in corrugated boards and sometimes packed in metal boxes. The facts show that people will be more careful when handling the film when it is packaged. One of the largest manufacturers of office equipment in the UK considers that when the packaging is changed from corrugated board to film, the damage is greatly reduced.
Another situation that affects all of us is the tendency towards a single energy supply. Few professional engineers do this. And its need for experience in the production line system. Be careful when selecting suppliers.
Looking to the future, the use of stretched film will grow steadily, especially in the next 10 years, we will wait and see.
