For most of us, the end of the line is the last place we want to be.

But if you’re in the stretch wrap business, like Orion Packaging Systems, that’s where the action is.

While unitizing pallet loads with industrial-strength plastic wrap has been done for at least 30 years, several trends are driving the industry today, says Peter Vilardi, Orion’s director of marketing.

The most important might be the move toward lean manufacturing.

“When manufacturers and distributors go lean, they look for ways to take waste and inefficiency out of every aspect of their operations, including end-of-the-line packaging,” Vilardi says. “That creates an opportunity for stretch wrap.”

In some instances, Vilardi says lean manufacturers are replacing manual stretch wrap operations with semi-automated solutions.

The advantage: Better utilization of the stretch film. A good manual operator may get 20% stretch from the film. A semi-automatic stretch wrapper with a pre-stretch unit, on the other hand, stretches the film up to 260% before it’s applied to the load. “You can pay for a semi-automatic system in a year just from using less film,” says Vilardi.

In other instances, manufacturers are replacing semi-automatic machines with fully-automated systems capable of wrapping 60 loads or more per hour, usually in conjunction with an automatic palletizer in a high throughput environment.

A second trend driving the market for stretch wrap equipment today is the replacement cycle. “We’re seeing a number of customers who are trading in their old model for newer models, and getting the benefits of new technology,” Vilardi says.

One trend is AC motors, which require less maintenance than the DC motors that were once typical.

Yesterday’s dedicated microprocessors have been replaced with PLCs even on low-end machines. “The cost of PLCs has come down significantly,” says Vilardi. “Customers get a more flexible machine that can be easily programmed, and because a PLC is an off-the-shelf component, it’s easier to maintain and replace.”

Some users are turning to orbital stretch wrappers that apply a ring of film to unitize long products that are shipped horizontally.

Others are using a hybrid machine known as a portable automatic stretch wrapper. This is a stretch wrap machine that looks like a semi-automatic stretch wrapper, but with the capability to automatically apply film at the start of the wrapping process and cut the film at the end.

That means an operator no longer has to get off a lift truck to initiate the process.

“Because it automatically wraps the load, lift truck drivers can make better use of their time,” says Vilardi. “But the machine can still be moved to wherever the loads need to be wrapped, which makes it extremely flexible.”