Stretch-hood fits like a glove
A company installs a stretch-hood machine in a new production line to secure fully loaded pallets for transport and protect the palletized products from the elements.
An Ontario-based company produces various potting mixes for plants and gardens, packaging them in 1-cubic-foot- and 16-quart-capacity plastic bags. The bags are then palletized on full-size 40-by-48-inch pallets or 40-by-31**1/2-inch minipallets, depending on the product. In the past, the company has used spiral stretch-wrapping machines to secure fully loaded pallets for transport and protect the palletized bags from the elements. However, the spiral stretch-wrappers caused some problems. "With a spiral stretch-wrapping machine, you first have to put a top sheet over the palletized material, and then the machine wraps plastic around the pallet," says Guenter Woerfel, the company's director of operations, south region. "Not only does this take extra labor and time, but it doesn't totally secure the pallet for transport, and rain or moisture dripping down the pallet's sides can go between the plastic layers and get to the product on the pallet." Recently, the company needed to install a new palletizing line in its plant to handle an increase in product demand, so it decided to find a better way to wrap the pallets.