For a long time, one of the big day-to-day headaches here at Combi headquarters was stretch-wrapping our own equipment for shipping.
Our tray formers, case packers and other large machines are built to stand up to years of hard use in the plant or warehouse. But they aren’t easy to transport. So we package them carefully to withstand the abuses of travel.
But even if there was a turntable or straddle wrapper that could accommodate their size and weight, moving these machines to a centralized stretch-wrapping station would take as much time as wrapping them by hand. So we did it the old-school way.
Hand-wrapping a shipment – whether it’s a 12-foot-long machine or a nicely stacked 48-inch x 40-inch pallet – is an ergonomic nightmare and an injury waiting to happen, according to Combi Product Manager Chris Rempe. It’s slow and imprecise, and uses more film than necessary. Nobody looks forward to doing it.
So when Combi’s first BeeWrap+ robotic stretch wrapper was ready for action, we put it to use in our own plant. Now it’s one of our favorite tools.
BeeWrap+ is a mobile, semi-autonomous stretch-wrapping robot for decentralized load containment. You wheel it to the load, secure the film, then push a button and take a step back. The robot does the rest – circling the load and wrapping it neatly.
“We’ve been using it in our own plant for about a year,” Rempe says. “It’s changed the game for us.”
He acknowledges that BeeWrap+ isn’t a solution for everyone. If your operation puts out a high volume of same-size cartons, you’re probably already set up with centralized palletizing and a standard turntable-style stretch-wrapper. But many operations don’t have that luxury.
If you deal in oversized loads or mixed pallets, operate multiple packaging lines or have limited floor space, you’ve already discovered the limitations of a centralized turntable.
Decentralizing stretch wrapping reverses the usual method: Instead of bringing the pallet to the stretch-wrapper you bring the stretch-wrapper to the pallet. That’s the point of BeeWrap+.
“We’ve seen some large global manufacturers adopt BeeWrap+ for large assemblies and low-volume product lines. But it’s also been transformative for 3PLs and online fulfillment operations that handle dozens of SKUs and pallet configurations every day,” Rempe says.
In a head-to-head competition between a BeeWrap+ robotic stretch wrapper and hand-wrapping, there’s no contest; BeeWrap+ wins by every measure:
- It’s faster, capable of wrapping 50 standard-size loads per hour.
- It’s more secure, wrapping pallets tighter and more neatly.
- It’s economical, applying 240 percent pre-stretch to the film for reduced waste and consumable expense.
- It’s safer, eliminating the physical stresses of hand-wrapping.
With a price ranging from $18,000-$22,000, BeeWrap+ is in line with the cost of straddle-style wrapping equipment. Variables that affect the cost include:
- Choice of column height; standard (83”) or tall (103”).
- Optional stop-start scanner for extra safety; if the scanner senses an obstruction the machine will stop until the obstruction is removed. Without the scanner, it comes standard with a safety bumper that stops the robot immediately upon contact.
- Battery upgrade from the standard 250 cycles per charge to 400 cycles.
Mobile Robotic Stretch Wrapper Product Comparison
Rempe notes that unlike traditional turntable wrappers, for which the choices are abundant, options for a robotic stretch wrapper are limited; until now, one manufacturer has controlled most of the market share. So the addition of BeeWrap+ offers end-users and packaging distributors another solution with meaningful differentiation and benefits.
Feature-for-feature, BeeWrap+ compares well:
- ETL listed to UL 963 the standard for Sealing, Wrapping, and Marking Equipment
- 2-year warranty
- 50 load/hour production rate
- Easily accessed charging port
- Absorbent glass mat (AGM) battery, for maintenance-free performance and longer life than traditional battery technologies
- Touchless safety option
- Damage-resistant control panel interface
- Sets up and deploys without specialized tools or training
- Lower price
- A decade’s worth of hard use across Europe and Asia
“When you look at the whole package, it’s a pretty compelling value,” Rempe says. “People are surprised when they see how well it works. Whenever I see our guys using it, I just have to stop and watch it. It’s pretty cool.”
See BeeWrap+ in action
Are you still stretch-wrapping by hand? If you struggle with the final step in preparation for shipping, contact Combi Packaging Systems to learn more about our mobile robotic stretch wrapper solution.
