Shrink packaging for Mangolpuri Industrial Area

The multipack, and why film beats a box

Six fittings in a shrink pack cost less than six fittings in a printed box, arrive cleaner than six loose fittings, and are counted at a glance.

That last point is the underrated one. A trader who can count a pack without opening it argues about quantity less often, and film that shrinks tight to the set makes the count obvious.

Film also keeps a plated or painted part clean through a dusty journey, which for hardware is most of the reason it gets returned.

Where the item is sharp — a hinge, a bracket, a threaded rod — the film must be thick enough not to be punctured by its own contents, and that is a specification question rather than a machine question.

Heat, and the part that does not like it

A shrink tunnel is heat, and not everything you make wants heat. Thin mouldings soften, printed labels curl, and anything with a sticker applied before shrinking will show it afterwards.

The order of operations is what to think about. Label after shrinking where the label cannot take the tunnel; label before where the film has to protect it.

Test with your own part before you buy. We would rather run a sample than have you discover in production that your own moulding distorts at the temperature the film needs.

Send us the actual item, not a drawing. Film behaviour on a real part is not something anybody can predict from a dimension.

From pack to carton to trader

Shrink packs go into cartons, and the cartons go to traders who stack them without much ceremony.

A carton of shrink packs is light and crushable, which makes it a strapping case rather than a taping case. Two straps hold a light carton's shape under a stack far better than tape does on its own.

Mark the count on the outside. A trader who has to open a carton to know what is in it will open it, and the carton never closes as well the second time.

Where a set is sold in different quantities, keep the carton count constant and vary the pack size instead. Constant carton counts are what make a trader's stock-taking possible, and they remember who makes their life easy.

Buying a shrink line for a small unit

A shrink setup is a machine plus film plus a person who understands both, and the third is the one people forget to budget for.

Ask what the film costs per pack before you compare machines. Over a year the film is the larger number, and a machine that runs a cheaper film grade well is worth more than a machine with a longer specification sheet.

Because these are PackForge models, the supply, installation and service come from PackForge Industries. Ask for that to be stated on the quotation and it will be.