One of the most commonly asked questions when purchasing a new shrink wrapping machine is, is this the right one for my company?
I have come across a lot of customers who’ve purchased machines that do not meet their production size, whether the machine couldn’t keep up or it was an over kill.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of salesman/saleswoman that are just trying to sell and collect their commission instead of catering to your needs. Luckily, there are great solutions to avoid such a headache and wasted time & money.
1. Do your RESEARCH before contacting any packaging company.
a. Make a list of all the products you will plan on shrink wrapping.
b. Find out the smallest and largest product you will be wrapping.
c. Figure out what power supply you’ll need to add for a new shrink wrap machine.
d. Try to project whether or not your production will increase in the near future
2. When searching for a packaging company, make sure they are local and if they’re not local make sure they can service out of state.
3. Calculate your ROI (return on investment) on purchasing a packaging machine a. By considering both direct and indirect costs, you can get a more accurate idea of what your savings will be by purchasing a shrink wrapping system. For instance, you might take into account the labor cost of multiple workers with benefits and workers compensation compared to the cost of a semi-auto L-bar sealer over the years.
b. Packaging machines that are able to handle different size products, product counts, and case sizes help increase efficiency and therefore your ROI.
4. Figure out what consumables you will need to purchase with the shrink wrapping machine.
a. Whether you’re shrink wrapping books or cookies, you need to make sure you purchase the correct shrink wrapping material. Polyolefin has become the most popular material in the shrink wrapping process, so make sure to keep room in your budget to purchase shrink film.