Enhancing Efficiency, Safety, and Sustainability in Transit Packaging
Stretch hoods have revolutionised load containment in modern logistics, offering an effective alternative to traditional stretch wrapping products and methods. This innovative packaging solution provides unparalleled load stability, protection, and efficiency for businesses across various industries from the Food and Beverage sector to chemical product production to construction materials.
The common denominator? These industries generally create tall and heavily loaded pallets due to their inventory, so require a next level solution for safe and secure stock transport.
How to Apply a Stretch Hood
Before we look at the benefits, let’s first examine how the system works.
Applying a stretch hood requires specialised equipment to stretch the plastic hood (essentially a plastic tube) over a palletised load, which can then be secured for storage or transport. The process is automated to ensure consistency, efficiency, and safety – especially as these pallets tend to be extremely large.
The loaded pallet is either fed onto a low conveyer or placed underneath a stretch hood machine by forklift.
The polyethylene stretch hoods are supplied on large rolls which are loaded onto the machine by forklift. The machine unwinds the film to the required length, based on the dimensions of the loaded pallet.
The hood is then cut to size automatically and the top of the hood or ‘tube’ is sealed. Again this is an automated, programmable action.
In this crucial next step, the hood is then stretched both horizontally and vertically, ensuring the hood will fit tightly over the load. This sizing and stretching is key to achieving optimal load stability.
The hood is then lowered over the pallet while the machine securely holds it through the stretching process. Held under tension, once the hood is released, it creates a robust containment force around the whole pallet.
After the hood is checked by the Stretch Hood Machine Operator for tension and that it has been correctly applied – the pallet is ready for despatch.
Key Benefits of Stretch Hoods
Stretch hoods provide a range of benefits such as keeping loaded pallets secure, resistant to weather as providing a more eco-friendly packaging solution.
Unlike traditional stretch wrap, the hood completely encapsulates the top and sides of the pallet, providing total coverage and containment around the pallet. This helps to protect the pallet from the weather as well as enhancing load stability.
But there are also numerous operational efficiencies to consider.
- Speed: Machines can handle multiple pallets per hour with minimal downtime.
- Consistency: Ensures uniform application every time.
- Safety: Reduces the need for manual handling.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Minimises material waste and labour costs.
Choosing the Right Stretch Hood Solution
When considering whether your business could benefit from a Stretch Hood system, there are a number of areas you will need to explore further.
Take a look at your current packaging volumes. Are you wrapping enough pallets to justify the investment in a stretch hood machine? If you’re wrapping more than 300 pallets a day, it may be worth exploring further.
Of course, this figure needs to be viewed alongside your inventory and product characteristics, especially if your pallet load is anywhere between 500 – 2000 kg.
We work with many companies with large scale production requirements. Many of our Food and Beverage customers adopt a stretch hood strategy with our support. It’s perfect for bottled water industry, for example, which has high volume through-put with tall and heavy pallets.
The stretch hoods we supply are sized to the exact pallet load dimensions and requirements to cut waste as well as to ensure maximum load retention – critical for the size and weight of pallets being wrapped. Essentially, they are bespoke for every customer and every set up.
Our stretch hoods can also made with recycled content, again to help cut waste and to support our customers with their environmental goals to reduce single use plastics.
The Stretch Hood Summary
Stretch hoods represent a transformative packaging technology that goes beyond traditional wrapping methods. By providing superior load stability, protection, and efficiency, they offer a compelling solution for businesses seeking to optimise their logistics and packaging processes.
As supply chain complexity increases, stretch hood technology stands out as a strategic investment in product protection, operational efficiency, and sustainability.
If you’re considering integrating a Stretch Hood System into your operation, just click here for simple straight forward advice and help to get started.