Orbital stretch wrapper keeps load on forklift and away from workers

Red Ball Oxygen is the largest independent welding and industrial gas supplier in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. The company previously used strapping or other solutions to secure pallets, but found that many small products would slip through and fall. After the company installed orbital stretch wrappers, operators now safely wrap loads in 75% less time.

Employees traditionally hand wrapped pallets and, while the process provided proper load containment, it took two employees to wrap a load. The new orbital wrapper (ITW Muller, yellowjacket110.com) requires only one person to wrap the same load in half the time. The orbital stretch wrapper has a manual or semi-automatic mode, requires a footprint of about 8 feet x 9 feet and runs on 110 VAC. The machine also wraps a standard pallet size up to 68-inch diagonal. The new system moves around and under a load while it remains on the lift truck, eliminating employee injury from hand-wrapping.

“We have definitely saved time and money with the new wrapper,” says Alex Kennedy, vice president of operations for Red Ball Oxygen. “More importantly though, it will prolong the good health of my employees. Film rolls are heavy and employees can injure their heads on loads or forklifts as they rotate around the pallet to manually wrap it.”

“The wrapper has simplified the job and made the process faster and easier,” agrees Herb Wright, warehouse manager. “Wrapping used to be the hardest part of the job, and now it’s the easiest.”