If you’re in the market for a new automatic stretch wrapper, one of the specifications you are going to need to know is capacity. How much throughput your new stretch wrapper can be expected to handle is an important factor in the purchasing decision. Purchase a stretch wrapper with too little capacity for your operation and efficiency suffers. Purchasing excess capacity, however, isn’t always the answer.

Don’t buy speed you might need

One of the things that we see over and over is an overestimation of throughput requirements. In fact, people often overestimate their throughput requirements by as much as 25-50 percent. A possible reason for the overestimation trend might be that it seems like overestimating errs on the side of caution. After all, it’s better to have too much capacity than too little, right?

automatic stretch wrapperOf course, you don’t want to short-change yourself by underestimating your capacity. However, on the other, hand stretch wrappers with excess capacity are expensive. And when you’re budgeting for a new stretch wrapper, erring on the side of caution and budgeting for the capacity you might need could mean you have to make sacrifices somewhere else.

Rather than paying for capacity you might never need, your precious budget might be better spent on a feature or option that could make an impact every day. Your goal, then, should be to accurately estimate your throughput requirements and purchase a machine that meets them.

But what if you do need more throughput in the future?

If you do find yourself down the line facing increased capacity and wishing you had more speed in your stretch wrapper, there are a couple of things you can do to give the stretch wrapper you’ve got a boost. For some machines, the answer is as simple as upgrading in the field with a speed package for greater throughput.

Another option, if a speed package isn’t an option or isn’t the right solution, is to increase the speed of the conveyor drives. Either option gives you greater throughput if you need it without paying for it up front and never using it.

The Automatic Stretch Wrapper Buying Guide

From wrap pattern to containment force, there are a lot of variables that go into the right automatic stretch wrapper. Luckily, we created the Automatic Stretch Wrapper Buying Guide to help you navigate all of the options, features, and stretch wrapper specifications.

Follow the link below to download your free copy of the guide and get access to all the insider automatic stretch wrapper information you need!

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This post was published on October 10, 2016 and updated on September 13, 2017.

October 10, 2016

Purchase an automatic stretch wrapper with too little capacity for your operation and your efficiency will suffer. Learn how to budget for capacity.