If you're not using stretch wrapping in your shipping department, you may feel that investing in stretch wrapping equipment is not worthwhile for your company. Being aware of some of the shipping benefits of stretch wrapping might convince you that this packing technique can improve your bottom line:

The following are four major stretch wrapping advantages when it comes to optimizing shipping operations:

Preventing damage to shipping materials

Hand-wrapped shipping materials will not be as thoroughly secured as materials wrapped with a semi-automatic stretch wrapper. Poorly wrapped pallets that are shipped are more likely to become damaged en route, and this will cost your company.

If one of your pallets falls apart, you need to spend more on both labor and materials to clean up the mess and repack the pallet.

Improving customer satisfaction

If you don't use stretch wrapping, you might find that receiving companies refuse your hand-wrapped shipments because they are not properly secured or because they have been damaged en route. 

Receiving companies will be more eager to work with you if they know that the materials you ship are properly wrapped so that unloading and order processing tasks are convenient and problem-free. This means that stretch wrapping in your shipping department is likely to improve customer satisfaction. 

Allocating work tasks

Investing in a semi-automatic wrapper (from an outlet such as SIAT S.p.A.) can significantly decrease the amount of labor necessary for every load packed for shipping. It doesn't take very heavy load wrapping demands to make investing in stretch wrapping equipment worthwhile. 

Think about all the time you can save if your employees don't need to wrap loads by hand. If you want to find out the exact amount you stand to gain in reduced labor expenses, calculate how much time your employees are spending on wrapping each week. You might find that, for many of your employees, wrapping takes up a significant portion of workweek hours.

Remember that you will not only avoid spending money to cover these wages with a semi-automatic stretch wrapper, but you will also be able to use your employees for other tasks. If you have labor shortages in certain areas, you can retrain employees who have been responsible for wrapping to take on other responsibilities at your facility. 

Reducing the cost of materials

A stretch wrapper uses wrapping film more efficiently than it is used through hand wrapping. This means that a stretch wrapper will increase yields on how much you can get done with just one roll of film. More efficient use of wrapping film leads to lower material costs.