Choosing the Right Shrink Wrap Machine

Dec. 23, 2024

Choosing the Right Shrink Wrap Machine

Shrink wrap material provides moisture resistance, and scratch protection and helps protect your items from dirt and dust. It also ensures that you have a strong protective wrap on your items.

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The global shrink wrapping market is growing. Estimates of an extra $415 million in growth in means it&#;s not going anywhere for your business.

Looking to bolster your warehouse operations with proper shrink wrap? You need to invest in a shrink wrap machine. It can give you that much-needed edge.

If you plan on adding one to your packaging station, which ones would be best for your business? What are the different types of units you can use? Which one fits your needs? What type of film should you use?

Before you choose a shrink wrap machine, choose the correct shrink film for the job.

PVC is used for everyday products.
POF is FDA approved for contact with consumable items.

Choose the mil that you need. The higher the number, the stronger the film.

Finding the Right Shrink Wrap Machine

When you look for a shrink wrap systems, there are many classifications. These depend on your needs.

Different machine sizes correspond to different products for different uses.

When picking your machines for shrink-wrap packaging, it&#;s crucial to factor in a few details.

First, you need to consider the volume of products that you would need to seal up. Smaller machines are great for people who need to protect a small to medium volume of products. These are there to wrap a small output every now and then.

Many of the low-volume shrink wrap machines have a modest cost, going between $200 - $500. A more premium shrink wrap machine offers a better automatic function for faster wrapping. These would be best for a small eCommerce business or online store.

The other volumetric classification of the shrink wrap machines is full automation devices. This type of machine is for large-scale, large-volume production facilities. These will be useful for packing lines with consistent sizes.

These heavy-duty, high-volume packaging machines will cost somewhere between $30,000 to $40,000. These can shrink-wrap up to 100 items or more in an hour of use, depending on the type.

There are only two primary types of shrink wrap packaging machines in the market right now. This is apart from the custom devices that many big manufacturers add in their assembly lines. These are the I-Bar Shrink Wrap Machine and the L-Bar Sealers.

The I-Bar Shrink Wrapper

Differentiating the I-Bar from the L-Bar sealer is not hard. They do the same job but have different categories of uses.

The I-Bar shrink wrap unit is a manual device that uses an I-bar sealer and a feed roller (when using centerfold film to create a custom bag). Use this machine to cut the centerfold film to your desired size and seal the side creating your custom bag. This machine also works well with stock shrink bags. You would then insert your product in the bag (stock or custom) and seal it closed. After you have the product inside the sealed bag, shrink it down with a heat gun for a snug fit. Somebody with an I-bar can seal a conservative estimate of up to 200 items a day.

Many small manufacturers use I-Bar to handle their small-volume shipments. Items with smaller sizes like figurines, toys, and gadgets need smaller packaging.

The L-Bar Shrink Wrapper

The L-Bar uses a square frame with a heat seal device on an L-shaped impulse sealer. It performs the same job as the I-bar but sealing two intersecting sides instead. These can be used for high-level applications.

Many L-bar machines are best for heavy-duty everyday use. These have a seal time of between 1 &#; 4 seconds. You can then use a heat gun or heat tunnel to shrink the wrapping. This machine is designed to use centerfold shrink to make custom bags.

Our recommended I-Bar Shrink Machines

AIE-I - I Bar Shrink Wrap System 13 inch
AIE-I - I Bar Shrink Wrap System 18 inch
AIE-I - I Bar Shrink Wrap System 24 inch
AIE-I - I Bar Shrink Wrap System 32 inch
AIE-I - I Bar Shrink Wrap System 40 inch

You should go for this type of machine if you expect to work on thousands of products at a time.

Support Units: Shrink Wrap Tunnels

Beyond the low-volume shrink wrap devices, there are other automatic wrap machines available. These units are best for high-volume production facilities. The heart of these systems is the shrink wrap tunnel.

A shrink wrap tunnel is a temperature-controlled environment that heats packaging in 4 sides. While a heat gun is a handheld device that works fine, this is not fast enough for higher volumes. With a shrink tunnel, you package your products faster and better.

What makes the shrink tunnel a better choice than the heat gun is the conveyor system. They are mobile, so you can move them anywhere you need. They can function with bigger dimensions and are perfect for small items' use.

There are also shrink-wrap tunnels that can accommodate medium-sized products.

Industrial Shrink Wrap Machines

Beyond these, there are machines for bigger, industrial-level manufacturing. Many of these automatic wrap units remove operator involvement in the entire process. This allows you to save time and the expense of additional employees.

If you are gearing towards high-capacity manufacturing, an industrial shrink wrap machine should do it. You would need to connect these devices to your other automation equipment. If you&#;re a company that wants rapid product output and rapid product wrapping, these are for you.

Find The Right Shrink Wrap Machines

There are different devices for your needs when it comes to finding shrink wrap machines. For smaller operations, it&#;s best to use semi-automatic shrink wrap devices like the I-bar and L-bar. Couple it with a shrink-wrap tunnel and you should be ready to go.

Are you looking for better, more secure packaging for your products? Do you need someone who can supply you with anything you need for packaging?

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You need Pack Secure.

Additional reading:
Can you use a bottle sterilizer for glass bottles?

Zhongfu Packaging contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.

We provide everything you would ever need to create that professional-looking product packaging. From POF to PVC shrink films, shrink machines to impulse sealers, we have it here for you.

Talk to us today and see how you can get the best packaging for your needs.

Primer on Shrink Wrapping | sealers101

Our latest blog post is a quick primer on shrink wrapping and the full line of equipment Sealer Sales offers for shrink wrapping.

Shrink wrapping is an ideal solution for many types of products in a whole host of industries. Shrink wrapping provides your package with a crystal clear tamper proof package while protecting your product from moisture and dust.

Shrink wrapping a product

Provides a protective barrier from dust, moisture, fingerprints, etc
Provides products with a professional and factory fresh appearance
Bundles products together if selling multiple items as a set

What is Shrink Wrapping?
Shrink wrap is a plastic film that you can wrap around any object. Heat is then applied to the surface (via heat gun or shrink tunnel), which causes the plastic to shrink. As it shrinks, it conforms to the shape of your object and seals itself.

How to Choose a Shrink Wrapping Machine?

Sealer Sales carries a full line of shrink wrapping systems (L-Bar sealers and shrink tunnels) to help you with your shrink wrapping needs. When it comes to choosing the right machine, there&#;s a few easy questions to answer to help us identify which machine will work best for your application.

What are you packaging? Will this be a retail or industrial application?
What are the dimensions of your package &#; length x width x height?
What is the weight of your package?
What is the speed you need? Think of how many packages you will need to run.
What type of shrink film will be used?
What is the gauge of the shrink film?

Download our shrink wrapping machine survey which has a complete list of questions you will want to answer. Answering these questions will help us identify the appropriate shrink wrapping system and film for you.

How to determine the right film size?

Measure the width and height of your product and add 5-10% to the measurement. This provides you with your minimum shrink bag width.
Measure the length and height of your product and add 5-10% to the measurement. This provides you with your minimum shrink bag length.
For shrink film (usually sold as centerfold film), take the smallest figure of the two to determine the shrink film size needed.
If the size you needs is not available, a larger size can be used because shrink films will shrink up to 40% in all directions

Having these measurements will also now help you what size shrink wrapping machine will work for your product.

We carry a wide variety of machines from the starter units to more automatic systems. See our comparison guide below of our most popular machines.

Table-Top L-Bar Shrink Wrapping
An L-Bar sealer are designed with two sealing sides which allow you to seal and cut centerfold shrink film in one step. Our table top L-Bar sealers (YC-series and W-series) are both easy to use. The L-bar sealers are ideal for small production sizes such as start up businesses. Once you seal your package closed using an sealer, you will need either a heat gun or shrink tunnel in order to complete the shrink wrapping process.

Combo Shrink Wrapping Units
Our combo shrink wrapping units allow you to seal and shrink with one machine. This is ideal for smaller foot print locations which cannot accommodate larger units. Our combo units will tend to be a little slower than our other free-standing L-bar sealers. Please note most of our larger machines will require 220V. Our SS-48ST unit is a combo unit that is offered in 110V voltage for smaller facilities that do not have 220V available. Please note that we always prefer 220V for shrink tunnels as this will allow the machine to be more productive and efficient.

Free-Standing Semi-Automatic L-Bar Machines
Our free-standing L-Bar Combo machines will be the most efficient and quickest way to shrink wrap. We recommend these machines for heavier duty applications. Our free standing machines are equipped with a dual magnet hold down which removes operator error when correct seal and cool times are selected. A power discharge conveyor will push the product into the shrink tunnel once sealing process is completed.

Choosing the Right Shrink Wrap Machine