SHRINK & STRETCH Stretch in time
Cost control is a constant concern for businesses operating in every sector but, it seems, the price of wrapping pallets is often overlooked.
MANUFACTURERS or logistics companies that develop a reputation for delivering goods in anything less than perfect condition are unlikely to score highly in any customer satisfaction survey. Indeed, manufacturing quality controls lose all value if products
become damaged in the supply chain before they reach their final destination.
Ensuring that a palletised load is properly secured before it leaves the factory, warehouse or distribution centre is, therefore, an essential aspect of any efficient logistics operation. Stretch wrap film is by far the most common method of stablising and securing a pallet load. Applying multiple layers of film – either by hand or with automated machines – around the packages on a pallet, not only secures the load but also protects it from exposure to dust, moisture and other contaminants.
It will also offer some degree of tamper resistance and should deter the opportunist thief from helping him or her self to items
Alpha Feeds Choose YPS (Again!)
Yorkshire Packaging Systems Ltd, the leading supplier of shrink wrapping equipment in the UK who are currently celebrating their 35th year of trading, recently installed a semi automatic sleeve sealer and shrink tunnel into the Retford factory of Alpha Feeds. Alpha Feeds are renowned in the pet food industry for supplying specialist feed to a number of different categories and have grown substantially over the last few years. Traditionally a lot of their product was packed into outer cases which is expensive, takes up a lot of space to store the packaging and is labour intensive to erect and pack and so sleeve wrapping offered them many benefits. YPS had already supplied a related subsidiary with a similar piece of equipment the previous year, although as before YPS had fought had off a lot of competition. The equipment is a relatively standard piece of equipment within YPS’s range but
ultimately the order was won on the equipment’s simplicity of controls compared to other units which were considered at the time. Neil Locket, General Manager for the site commented ‘As we always do, we looked into the market at a number of companies and after a lot of extensive trials and tests we selected YPS again. The equipment was easier to use than its rivals and we know that their backup and support is second to none’. Glyn Johnson YPS MD continued “We fought off a lot of really strong competition for this order and so it was particularly pleasing to win out in the end’.
on the unit load.
But because stretch wrap is so commonly used, Martyn Sumner, operations director at Golden Valley Pallet Wrap Specialists Ltd (GVPS), is convinced many fail to monitor how efficiently they are using it. As a result, he says businesses could be overlooking an area of their supply chain operation where significant cost savings can be made. “Warehouse managers can tell you precisely how much they are paying for, for example, their forklift truck fleet, but often have no idea what it is costing them to wrap a pallet,” says Sumner. “Stretch wrap film should stretch by between 150 and 300% of its original length. So, a 1500m long role of stretch wrap film could provide around 6000m of film when applied to a load. If the user is, in fact, only getting 5000m from the role, then the cost per pallet wrapped goes up.” He continues: “If, for example, it requires 50m of film to wrap an individual pallet – then the price difference between a role of film that stretches to only 5000m instead of 6000m in a busy warehouse that it is wrapping and shipping 500 pallets a day can be dramatic.”
There are a number of reasons why a user might struggle to achieve optimum usage from a role of pallet wrap film, explains Sumner. One of the most common at facilities where pallet wrap machinery is used is that the pallet wrapping machinery is under performing.
Y ORKSHIRE PACKAGING SYSTEMS LTD
www.yps.co.uk
www.yps.co.uk Email:
info@yps.co.uk 26 > packagingscotland Email:
info@yps.co.uk Tel: 01924 441 355 Tel: 01924 441 355
“In my experience companies place less emphasis on maintaining their stretch wrap machines than they do other equipment in the warehouse – like, say, forklift trucks or conveyors,” says Sumner. “As a result of poor maintenance regimes, the gearing which controls the rollers can become slack and the film is not stretched to its maximum length. “Also, it is common to see Perspex screens covering the
January-March 2013
Pallet security is vital to logistics operations.
The cost savings in the price per pallet wrapped will almost certainly make the return on investment calculation very straight forward.
control panels of stretch wrap machines. These have usually been added to stop operatives absent-mindedly interfering with the settings. “But, as a result, the equipment’s performance parameters are rarely reprogrammed to suit the film
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