Within a company’s warehouse, where orders are prepared, many different processes are carried out and one of them is pallet wrapping, in which a layer of transparent plastic is applied to the goods.
This is not always done, but if the entire pallet is not covered, at least part of it should be, as this provides a number of advantages when it comes to preserving the packages in the best condition before they reach the end customer.
What does baling consist of?
When assembling a pallet, the boxes are placed so that they are as stable as possible, with various methods such as stitching, which consists of changing the way in which the boxes are placed on each floor so that they do not fall as height is gained.
This is not always possible, as sometimes loads are palletized that are not regular, and it must also be taken into account that the pallets will be moved several times at high speed through the company’s facilities until they are loaded.
Thus, one way to protect the packages from bumps, dust, dirt, water, etc., and above all to prevent them from falling while being carried from one place to another is to wrap them.
This wrapping, which can be one of the packaging requirements for export, puts a very strong plastic from the bottom of the pallet (it is more stable if it covers the wood) to the top, stretching it and holding the packages.
In this way, a load of loose boxes becomes a rigid block that is protected and almost impossible to separate from the pallet, unless it receives a very strong blow.
What types of balers are available on the market?
For many years this pallet wrapping was done by warehouse workers, which was not very efficient because it was very slow and required great physical effort.
Now there are different types of balers, so we can choose the one that most interests us according to the needs of our warehouse and are classified by the way they work and whether they require the presence of a worker or not.
Automatic with platform
The machine is fixed and the pallet arrives to it through a system of rollers automatically (when the pallet leaves the machine from a factory to the warehouse by those rollers) or after a forklift truck places it on this transport system.
When the pallet arrives on the platform, it starts to rotate and is wrapped by the machine, which stretches the film more than an operator, thus saving an enormous amount of plastic.
Automatic rotating arm
These machines are highly productive, as they can wrap up to 120 pallets per hour, a figure that an operator could reach in a full working day in the best case scenario.
Here the pallet remains stationary, so there is no danger of the goods falling off, the ring circles around at high speed and hence the figures it achieves.
Those who have used them complain about one thing, and that is that they do not resolve film queues well.
Automatic with rotating ring
Very fast, it is used in places where there are large productions, allowing to wrap pallets with loads of less than 40 cm thanks to the carriage that rotates up and down, depending on what is on the pallet.
It controls the tension of the film very well and is also one of the few that can do anti-rain baling.
Semi-automatic baler
There are several types and they are usually present in those companies where baling needs are low or sporadic.
It is necessary that an operator is next to it both to cut the film and when removing the pallet and can be mobile, which are known as battery wrappers and are very practical in places where there is not enough space.
What solution do we offer?
Pallet baling generates a large amount of plastic, which is a nuisance, since the company has to spend hours recycling it and it is very harmful to the environment.
Therefore, we would like to show a new pallet wrapping solution that completely eliminates the use of plastic, which we have called Big Belt.
They are raffia sheaths equipped with adjustable safety straps and can be reused up to 1000 times.
They are made to measure, with personalized prints and an identification code, and are assembled in a very simple way, which contributes to a faster work.
It is an ergonomic, lightweight, high-strength and temperature-resistant packaging, which makes it ideal for warehouses, especially when this raffia withstands friction better than plastic.
In addition, they significantly reduce CO₂ emissions by saving tons of plastic in warehouses and transportation.
Contact Embalajes Selección if you want to know more about the Big Belt system and to know it in depth, as it is sure that you will soon see the advantages it offers.
Pallet wrapping is an indispensable process in every company, because it ensures that the goods arrive undamaged. However, it is very polluting because it uses plastic film, so we have developed a solution that is reusable and uses another more environmentally friendly material.