18 October 2016 //
Prior to a purchasing a new shrink bundling packaging machine, many production engineers must identify the benefits and justify the cost, otherwise known as Return on Investment (ROI). When calculating it for EDL’s signature Double Tight Wrap System there are many misconceptions that can affect the shrink bundler’s ROI if not understood and calculated properly.
Originally designed to shrink bundle Pet Food and Care products in gable top bags, the Double Tight Wrap uses two perpendicular bands of film that are applied using mechanical tension and fused together in a heat tunnel, creating a total enclosure. At first glance a Double Tight Wrap may appear to be more costly and use more film than traditional end-of-line packaging enclosures, but in reality the benefits and savings achieved are unprecedented.
The following six factors should be taken into consideration when calculating the return on investment of an EDL Packaging Double Tight Wrap Shrink Bundling System:
1. Shrink Bundling’s Tightest Wrap Possible
Applying LDPE film with mechanical tension results in a significantly tighter band than is possible with traditional shrink bundling. This is because of the relatively low shrink energy of LDPE film compared to its tensile strength.
2. Biaxial Containment of Bundled Products
Collations of products can be mechanically contained with equal force applied to the length and width. Alternatively, the amount of mechanical containment in either axis can be adjusted individually. This is a unique feature of Double Tight Wrap as the containment force can be adjusted and optimized for different products, independent of the shrink characteristics of the film.
3. Total Enclosure Packaging
Double Tight Wrap is an incredibly efficient way to achieve total enclosure of a product or group of products, particularly for anything greater than 12” cubed.
Double Tight Wrapped packages achieve total enclosure with significantly better aesthetics than traditional methods using LDPE films. This becomes a functional benefit when there’s a need to see clearly or scan barcodes inside the total enclosure.
4. Film Savings Compared to Shrink Wrapping
Despite using two curtains and more square inches of film, Double Tight Wrap achieves a significant NET savings on film by only applying overlapping layers, and therefore doubling the protection, where it’s needed on the top, bottom, corners and edges of a package. The NET saving is achieved by only overlapping the layers of lighter gauge film where the additional protection is required.
5. Increased Energy Savings
Due to the fact that Double Tight Wrap achieves containment of the product with mechanical tension on the film as opposed to utilizing the limited Shrink Energy of LDPE, less heat is required to ‘finish the job.’ The result is that the tunnel on a Double Tight Wrap shrink bundling system can be as little as one-half the size and watt density of a traditional shrink tunnel.
6. Less Effect from Heat
In addition to the reduced heat and time in the tunnel chamber required by Double Tight Wrap, the product, or group of products, being wrapped are shielded from the heat in the tunnel chamber. This means Double Tight wrap can be used for wrapping products that are heat-sensitive and could not tolerate the temperatures and dwell time required by Traditional Shrink Bundling or Shrink Wrapping.
Double Tight Wrap technology is exclusive to EDL Packaging, and its success in creating brick-like packs, as well as proving total enclosure, has benefited the food, medical, and textile industries. To learn how our Double Tight Wrap could solve your packaging challenges, contact our team today.