New Stretch Wrapper Increases Throughput by 48% Per Hour

Executive Summary

FlexPAC recently worked with a large, juvenile products manufacturer who wraps and ships many loads per day. Prior to meeting with FlexPAC, the manufacturer was operating using an outdated stretch wrapping process. The outdated machine failed to wrap their pallets adequately leading to product damages, frequent returns and was slow which affect the throughput and productivity. FlexPAC identified improvements that made the process safer for operators and increased throughput per hour by 48%. By moving the manufacturer to a new stretch wrapper machine, the manufacturer went from wrapping 50 loads per hour to 80 loads.

Challenges

The manufacturer was operating with outdated technology that was costly and slowed down the loads per hour able to be wrapped. The old machine caused severe bottlenecking, violated OSHA safety standards, caused a loss of productivity and throughput due to machine downtime, and had high costs for spare parts and maintenance work. The machine also did not allow for accurate data collection and analysis, so they were unable to effectively maximize high-performance stretch films.

FlexPAC’s Process

FlexPAC did a thorough analysis of their operation and processes. FlexPAC then worked with the manufacturer to identify improvement opportunities and ultimately brought in a new Lantech S3500 stretch wrapper machine to maximize throughput and productivity. FlexPAC was able to reduce the film used per load by 1.3 ounces, increase containment force by 2.4 pounds, and reduced the cost by $0.12 per load shipped. Using the new machine improved operator safety and the material handling process since the operator no longer has to get on and off the forklift to operate the machine. With adequate load containment, the chance of product damage decreased significantly ensuring that products will arrive to customers undamaged. For more information about stretch wrapping machines and film savings, visit our previous case study, Manufacturer Saves 64% on Film with New Stretch Wrapper.

Results

The new stretch wrap machine will save the manufacturer money by reducing film use, wrap the pallets with a higher containment force to keep products from becoming damaged, and will cost less to ship each load. With the new machine in place, the manufacturer is experiencing a 29% savings in film every year, a 30% film usage reduction, 176% load force per ounce increase, a 92% force to load increase, a savings of 34.31 metric tons of CO2 emissions, and reduced the barrels of oil used by over 81. The outdated machine was only able to achieve 50 loads per hour and the new Lantech S3500 is able to achieve 80 loads per hour. Overall, the manufacturer will increase their throughput by 48% per hour saving them time, money, and labor.