In recent years, the logistics industry has achieved unprecedented technological progress. Resin films are good at stretching and wrapping applications and can meet a variety of packaging challenges. The resin film can be stretched to three times its normal length to wrap the tray, or it can be shrunk by 30% to package multiple cola cans. At the same time, the advent of resin films suggests that in some applications, less packaging material can perform even more.
Currently, shrink wrap films and stretch films can be used for the same package, but the method of use is completely different. Shrink wrap film is a common commodity package for supermarket shelves. The printing process currently used for such packaging continues to advance, enabling eight-color or even ten-color overprinting. The initial application of most of these shrink films that are attractive to the eye of the consumer is the transport protection package of the product. Subsequently, they are recycled and reused and produced into plastic bags for garbage or plastic chairs for parks.
BPIFilms Films is the UK's largest film supplier, supplying different grades of polyolefin shrink film and stretchable film (mainly polyethylene). Every year, BPIFilms Films supplies 100,000 tons of film to packers and beverage bottlers. New technologies in the film industry give added value and versatility to packaging products, but more importantly, companies can achieve superior packaging performance with fewer packaging materials.
Ocme's Vega shrink wrap equipment is produced at 120 packs per minute
Alex Begley, sales manager at BPIFilms Films, said: "Our best-selling stretch film is RMSupreme film, which is only 17 microns thick, but can be stretched to 250% of its length. At the same time, by adopting the most advanced Metallocene resin technology, RMSupreme film can achieve five-layer coextrusion with other materials. Of course, this requires the use of mechanical equipment. In addition, we also supply Wrapsmartultra for manual winding applications, the thickness of this film is reduced to only 7 microns."
From the retailer's point of view, another added benefit of the film is superior recyclability. PAFA executive David Tyson said: "Because no contaminants are produced, the recycling process for stretched plastic film is very clean, so it can spread the concept of recycling."
By effectively establishing a recycling cycle, BPIFilms Films maintains its unique recycling department. It is well known that the recycling department of BPIFilms Films can recycle 80,000 tons of mixed waste plastic per year due to the multi-color mixing process before recycling (such as black garbage bins).
New film technology
99% of the stretched resin film is used to produce transport packaging film, and the shrink film application is divided into two parts: it can be used for transporting wrap film or for product display packaging. When used in product display packaging, the printing performance requirements of pre-printed film materials are also increasing due to the attraction of more eyeballs to the products on the shelves.
Mike Thackwray, a shrink film specialist at BPIFilms Films, said: "The development of the pre-printed film industry started relatively late, but in recent years, the annual growth has reached about 20%. Currently, the processed shrink film can be printed directly. Corrugated cardboard is comparable in weight and only one-sixth the weight of corrugated board. In addition, the advantages of low energy consumption and low cost also promote the application of pre-printed film. As far as I know, there are at least two British beer companies. It is intended to abandon the use of corrugated boxes in the next few months." BPIFilms Films Inc. can provide Nov8 film solutions for this need. The Nov8 film is a high-performance, low-density polyethylene flexible printing film (printable on the Comexi press) for eight-color overprinting and is currently sold in thousands of tons.
BPIFilms Films is not only concerned with printing results. According to Mike Thackwray, "Our cooperation with the mechanical manufacturer KHSKister has also made significant progress, reducing the average thickness of the current film by another 25 microns." In the original production, a typical 35 micron thick film per minute The output is 90 packaging units. The lower the thickness of the film, the more natural the package produced per ton of film; at the same time, the thickness of the film is reduced and the production speed can be increased.
Speed ​​innovation
Production speed is an important factor in determining the level of investment income, while the market-competitive shrink wrap machine runs at a speed of 20 to 120 packages per minute. Peter Morris of Friedheim International MD said that without the application of the servo system, the sealing operation on the top of the bag will be difficult to control. In some cases, a closed production environment is required to achieve replacement of components or to realize the added value of a converter that is planned to be updated. He said: "In addition to increasing production speed, there is no more room for innovation in shrink wrap technology. If the equipment is improved and updated, after the improvers put these products on the market, some companies that operate at lower labor costs and poor environments It may introduce cheaper equipment to seize the market, and this will bring great risks to innovative companies."
Like most suppliers, Friedheim made a general consideration. Peter Morris said: "Our goal is to work with BeckPackatomaten. The core competency of the company is characterized by their ability to tailor the package size to the needs of different customer products and to make adjustments and changes during the production process. Achieving the right wrap. We have installed more than 200 systems in the UK market. These products can produce up to 120 shrink wraps per minute, using servo drive control, which is sold according to customer's machine function and performance requirements. The price range is 34,500 US dollars to 172,500 US dollars." He also said: "For the production enterprise, as long as the price does not exceed 15,000 US dollars, as an entry-level simple application, the wrapping speed of the wrapping machine can match the feeding speed."
Ocme's Vega shrink wrap machine is available in 120 packs per minute and can be customized. Some parts of the Vega shrink wrap machine are available for all models, including top three-channel systems worth up to $500,000. Ocme's sales manager Peter Mayhew said that Ocme is currently focusing on another product innovation. “We have a unique channel technology that gently inflates the package as it approaches the seamless seal on the packaging machine. Currently, we also have the ability to reduce energy consumption in the channel by 30%. Vega shrink wrap machine,†he said. The next step is for faster production conversions, which we will show at the Interbev show in the US in October."
David Hayward, technical director of the Linkx system, said that servo-driven devices can double the production speed of the system, but only increase the cost of the pneumatic control module by 20%. Linkx's first Matrix shrink wrapper has been installed at the Bird'sEye plant in Lowestoft, England, increasing production efficiency by 50% and achieving a production rate of 300 cartons per minute for three channels. In addition, Linkx has also implemented improvements in servo technology, adding contact production conversion buttons to the existing Europack wrapper. David Hayward predicts that at least 40 Europack wrappers are now operating in the UK market.
Reduce manpower operations
John Farrow, general manager of Adpack, believes that speed is not the only concern. Most of the Italian and German single-channel wrap systems imported by the company are produced at 35-100 packages per minute. “Reducing manpower is also an application advantage of the wrap system. The product is automatically placed at the same time as the wrap, allowing the operator to be more efficiently deployed.â€
At a time when capital turnover is difficult, it is not difficult to understand the idea that some companies will use “investment costs as the only considerationâ€. However, better warehousing management allows companies to save money by eliminating the need to purchase equipment over and over again. “The life of the shrink wrap machine servo drive system is about 10 to 15 years, but once we used a device that was only used for five years, it was scrapped because of the unreasonable storage management of the customer and the excessive use of the equipment. That's why we value our customers' connections and services so that we can support our customers' production from start to finish and help them use the equipment reasonably."
Tony Bradley, Kern's global sales manager, said: "We are happy to provide equipment rental services. In a recent project example, the customer's cumulative investment cost will be recovered within 12 months, and it can quickly prove that only one cost savings. The benefits can make up for the full investment cost and achieve profitability by the end of the year. For example, a customer originally needed to invest 100,000 pounds to purchase equipment, but through the lease method he can store the funds to achieve good capital flow. We are more typical The full rental price for equipment is less than £500 a week. I believe customers can quickly calculate the cost-return rate if they know the expected savings and returns."
New choice
Jeremy Marden, general manager of MardenEdwards, specifically mentioned the advantages of applying non-shrinking package technology in a speech. He firmly believes that non-shrink wraps can provide customers with a more cost-effective and more attractive production method: "Basically, our system uses a method of first cutting and folding to wrap the film around the surface of the package. In order to create a diamond-like edge seal effect." He then explained: "Then, the wrapper seals the corners of the package. In order to ensure the rigor of rigidity, the process is completed by heating during the sealing process. Compared with the working power of 20kw in the shrinkage channel and the high temperature of 200°C, the heating power of this part is only about 2kw, and the heat sealing of the whole package can be completed. Since the user company no longer needs to perforate the film to discharge heat, this This type of heating is an ideal choice for products that require aromas such as cigarettes and tea."
The package's primary product starts at about $28,750, with an average production speed of 100 packages per minute and 300 packages per minute for special production applications. When heat shrinkage of the film is not required, the company can choose some thinner film materials than polyolefins. When applied to complex operations, most package systems require features that are easy and fast to convert. Another advantage of a non-shrinkable wrap compared to a shrink wrap is that the package can be fitted with an easily open tear strip, which is not currently seen.