Is a pallet wrapper quicker than wrapping by hand?

Is a pallet wrapping machine quicker than wrapping by hand? Typically, yes, wrapping pallets with a machine is faster than wrapping by hand.

How long does it take to wrap a pallet?

On average, wrapping a pallet by hand takes 2 minutes whereas wrapping by machine with the same number of rotations, takes 1 minute and 23 seconds. This shows that automated wrapping does make a difference, especially if you are wrapping a high volume of pallets.

It would take approximately 6 hours 40 minutes to wrap 200 pallets by hand and only 4 hours 36 minutes with a pallet wrapper.

Time is money, so when it comes to wrapping pallets, using a pallet wrapping machine to automatically wrap is a faster option for most businesses. Not only does it save time, but it reduces the risk of injury for the hand film operators, reduces downtime as there is less roll changes and in some cases, the cost and film use is reduced too.

What else affects pallet wrapping speed?

Other factors which can affect the speed of the pallet wrapping process are the size and the consistency of the size of the pallet loads and the product being wrapped, the type of film being used to wrap the pallets and the number of roll changes. With a pallet wrapping machine, the rolls of film are bigger so therefore last longer meaning less reel changes and downtime. However, when hand wrapping, smaller rolls are used for the ease of the operator so roll changes occur more often, increasing downtime and therefor the overall time to wrap the pallets.

However, there are additional considerations when comparing the speed of machine wrapping with hand wrapping which include the downtime involved for servicing and maintenance of broken machines, snapping film on the machine which can cause extra downtime and how often the machine settings and stretch wrap film are being changed per day.

Also, installation of machines takes time so unless you are a high volume wrapper, it may be more time effective to continue wrapping by hand as installation and servicing can take time. Machines also require more operator training as they are more complex than hand wrapping so this increases the time needed to use a machine to wrap your pallets.

Extra time is also added with hand wrapping for downtime due to injury and common issues like scraping fingers along the floor which don’t happen when using a machine.

Should I switch from manual wrapping to a pallet wrapping machine?

To confirm if a machine is the best option for you, read ‘The pros and cons of wrapping by hand or machine’ here.

If you would like help deciding if a machine is for you, or would like help choosing the most efficient machine for your packaging operations, get in touch using the contact form below or calling +44(0)1469574480 to speak to one of our packaging experts.