Are you purchasing machinery or materials for your packaging line? Feeling a bit of pressure to cut costs or save as much money as possible while also keeping a smooth running line?
Chances are, you’ve always been focused on reducing costs whenever possible. But in today’s world, with so many businesses coming out of long periods of downtime, cutting costs is a top concern for practically everyone. There’s extra pressure from upper management to figure out how to save your company money.
You probably ask yourself on a daily basis, How can I cut costs today?
We know that the responsibilities of purchasing personnel today are stressful. Here at Industrial Packaging, we’ve worked with purchasing departments for decades to optimize their packaging lines and save money.
That is why, in this article, we are going to give you a few helpful cost-saving tips. Specifically, if you’re running a stretch wrapper, we are going to help you save between 20-50% on stretch wrapping film costs! Want to see proof of this in action? Review this case study we created based on our own experience!
Understanding Stretch Wrapping Film Costs
If you have been buying stretch wrapping film for a while, you understand that there are many different types of stretch film. You would also understand that specific differences between films such as gauge and roll length affect the cost of your films.
Generally speaking, the higher the gauge, the more costly the roll of the film.* The cost per roll will also increase the wider the roll is. Using thinner gauges will save you money.
Learn moreThe Role That Stretch Wrapping Machinery Plays
Depending on the type of stretch wrapper you have, you may or may not be able to run the full variety of stretch films. Not all machines can handle higher gauge films well and many machines cannot run thin films (45 gauge or less) without specific optimization of the machinery and operational protocols.
If your company is using thin films, continual preventative maintenance is key, more so than if you are running heavier gauge films (57, 63, 70). To save money here, you can either run thin films and have a preventative maintenance plan in place, or run thicker films and pay retail for break/fix.
As for which option is best for you to save money, that is based upon the volume of the wrap you are wrapping and the type of stretch wrapper you are using.
Learn moreHow To Reduce Stretch Film Costs By 20-50%
All the tips and tricks above are great ways to reduce your stretch wrapping cost. That being said, what’s next is the “secret sauce” to your cost-saving success.
If you currently run a Lantech stretch wrapper, it has a gear system inside that is made to last for the entire life of the machine under proper usage. Here is the thing though, you can upgrade these gears for about $100 and reduce film costs by 20-50%!
Here is the skinny on how this is possible:
- Most stretch wrappers come with a standard 200% pre-stretch gear. Therefore 10” becomes 30” when stretched.
- For around $100.00, you can buy upgraded gears.
- We would recommend 250% and 300% gears to replace the standard ones and test the loads with your current film or films that will provide the best performance with the new gears. This can be done by contacting one of our reps to determine what films to test.
- This could equate to a 20%-50% reduction in film costs.
- They may even have higher performance films that are lighter weight but perform equally as well with the potential for more savings.
This translates to:
- Fewer changeovers of rolls of stretch film.
- Fewer pallets to store in your warehouse.
- Fewer empty roll cores to dispose of.
- Lower cost per load of items wrapped.