Our expert Sales Representatives partner with vendor specialists to find you the best shrink wrap rolls and films, the right shrink wrap equipment, and the best ways to integrate them into your production line. For us, it's not just about making sure you get the best product on the market, it's about making sure you get the best shrink wrap rolls and film for your products and process.
Process for Using Industrial Shrink Wrap Rolls
How do you shrink wrap products? The process for using your shrink wrap roll is fairly simple. We feed your products into a specialized machine that uses a shrink wrap roll of film to wrap the product, enclosing 2 sides. Then an L-bar sealer clamps down on the 2 open ends, creating a fully enclosed shrink wrap “bag” around the product. The product then advances into a heat tunnel where specialized heaters shrink the shrink wrap film snugly around the product. This process can be semi-automatic and even fully automated.
Summit’s technical team partners with you and our vendor specialists to help you dial in the right seal temp and seal dwell time to ensure a fully sealed bag around your product. We also help ensure a good shrink around the product while the product goes through the shrink tunnel by dialing in the conveyor speed, temperature, and fan speed to move around hot air.
Shrink wrap roll film types
Summit Packaging partners with Vanguard to offer a variety of shrink wrap films and products to meet your unique needs. We have shrink wrap films with different clarities, thicknesses, slips, memory to shape, and sealability. Our shrink wrap machines can run at a rapid rate, customize to your production line, and run semi-automated or fully automatic.
Shrink wrap film material
Across the packaging industry, the most common shrink wrap film material is polyolefin. This material is very similar to polyethylene, providing good protection against moisture, oxygen, and light. It also shrinks quickly, but it has dramatically greater clarity and sparkle. Additionally, due to its molecular structure, it has greater strength at lesser gauges or mil thickness, which makes it a more environmentally sustainable option. When applied correctly, polyolefin doesn’t wiggle or move around as much as polyethylene, making it easier to handle.
Polyolefin shrink is exceptionally durable and has replaced PVC and polyethylene in many applications due to its superior performance characteristics such as:
- flexibility
- toughness
- chemical resistance
- printability
- barrier properties
- exceptional clarity for high-speed applications.
Summit can also provide polyethylene for basic bundling of multiple items to protect them during transportation. These polyethylene shrink wrap roll films have less clarity than polyolefin, but are an appropriate fit for certain applications.
Shrink wrap film sizes
Our shrink wrap roll partner, Vanguard, offers a variety of stock and custom shrink wrap film sizes. The most important element in determining the right size is getting the right shrink wrap roll for your process. Our team partners with you to find the right shrink film for your product and your production line.
Shrink wrap film thickness
Shrink wrap thickness varies depending on your product needs, but finding the right thickness for your shrink wrap roll film is crucial to a beautiful finished product. Our sales team will find the perfect option for your products, from fruit, to seafood, to industrial applications.
How to use shrink wrap film
The most common use for shrink wrap film is bundling multiples of the same product together. Some examples of this are:
- Cases of water or soda
- Multi-pack box bundles
- 2 or 3 packs of retail items
- Food containment and security
- Clothing and apparel
- Commercial and industrial products
Shrink wrap film also protects your products from tampering and provides evidence if any product tampering occurs. Finally, shrink wrap gives your retail products a nice sparkle on the shelf, making them more attractive to consumers.
