So Why Shrink Wrap?
To consider whether shrink wrapping works for you might be to consider the actual outcome you are hoping to achieve.
Shrink Wrapping is commonly used for three main outcomes;
- To provide a professional finish to goods with a glossy finish
- To combine or bundle items together (Eg. Gift Hampers, letter head reams, bottles, point of sale goods - 2 for the price of 1)
- To completely encapsulate, tamper proof and protect your goods
(Eg. Food - pizza, CD’s, DVD’s, games, box of chocolates)
What Are the Choices of Shrink Wrapping Available?
Choices are entirely dependent on your budget as well as the volume of goods you require to be shrink wrapped.
Starting at a basic Shrink A Pack this is where everything is provided for you – all you need is the shrink film. This includes a portable desk top heat sealer, film dispenser and heat gun and is a manual form of shrink wrapping – so best for low volume requirements. See our video.
Next up would be a range of All In One Shrink Wrap Machines where an L-Bar Sealer and Shrink Chamber are ‘all in one’. Sealing dimensions and Shrink Chambers increase as the size of the machine increases so the choice of which machine suits you is dependent on the size of the product. This shrink machine is faster than a Shrink A Pack, but is still considered to be a relatively manual process.
The Shrink Wrap Machines beyond the All In One Shrink Wrapper are either Semi-Automatic (such as PP1622 with Heat Shrink Tunnel) with production speeds of 10-20 packages per minute featuring heavy duty frames, micro blades, power discharge conveyors and recirculating air chamber within the heat shrink tunnel. Or Automatic Shrink Wrappers and Heat Shrink Tunnels (such as the GP-6000) which have outputs of 600-3000 packages per minute featuring 10 different operations, sealing time adjustments, larger sealing areas, Teflon coated sealing time blades and fully automated control systems.
What Shrink Film Do I need?
There are a few choices of Shrink Film available and which one suits you is dependent on a few things – especially the machine being used and best discussed with a Get Packed representative;
- Polyolefin Films such as Cryovac’s CT300, CT501 and Impact Shrink Films which are presentation or display films having featuring higher gloss, clarity and sheen.
- Polyethylene (PE) Shrink Film is ideal for bundling or collating multipacks. Eg. bottles, cans. It comes in a range of thicknesses can be custom printed. Usually used with Sleeve wrappers or bundle wrappers.
- PVC Shrink Film is not widely used but works well on older machinery and a Shrink A Pack manual operation. It has a strong brittle and crinkly texture and often used as an alternative to Polyolefin which is softer to touch and feel.
Call Get Packed for more information on what would best suit your product.
