- Be sure to place your shipment on a pallet that is
in decent shape. You don't want something that will fall apart in
transit. Try to find a pallet that is just the right size to accomodate
the amount of boxes or other materials you are palletizing. This will
help to save you from tearing the plastic film on sharp corners of the
pallet.
Try to place the items on the pallet as close to one
another as possible. If they have room to shift around after you've
applied the shrink wrap the entire unit will become loose and
ineffective. Brace items against one another.
- Set your pallet to be wrapped on top of other
empty pallets. This will make it easier to wrap since you won't need to
bend over so far. It helps to set your pallet diagonally at a 45 degree
angle rather than square on the stack (so that the bottoms of each
corner overlaps the top edge of the stack beneath). Make sure the
pallet does not wobble up there!
- Take your shrinkwrap roll and peel out a
couple of feet of wrap. Squeeze 8 inches or so of the end together into
a loose rope shape and thread this through and around one corner of the
pallet. Don't try tying a knot. Simply hold the end snug as you fold
the rest of the yard over it. The plastic sticks to itself so this
should be sufficient to keep it from pulling loose when you begin to
wrap.
- Wrap around the base of the pallet in the
same direction that was begun when you made the fold. Ensure that you
wrap the base enough times so that your plastic will not slip off. This
is the most important step since the goal is to keep your goods on the
pallet. Wrap that base at least four or five times, being careful to
allow the edge of the wrap to go underneath the corners. Pull the roll
tightly just before going around each corner.
- Basically you want the entire pallet to feel
like a unit. Everything should move as one, without wobbling. With that
in mind, work your way up from the base so that the bottom boxes are
first to be "married" with the pallet. Continue wrapping so that the
next layer is joined firmly to the first and so on. Be sure to take as
much stretch as possible out of the plastic film while you are wrapping.
- When you reach the top of the pallet you can
either end there or wrap back down the pallet again. To decide what is
needed, try pushing the upper boxes to see if the load seems tight or
loose. If you see the plastic ripple or the stack wobble, you either
didn't wrap tightly enough or it needs more layers. Go around it a few
more times, working your way back down to the base.
When the
stack is firm, tear the film apart from the roll and fold the end of it
under the edge of one of the wraps at the side of the pallet. This will
keep your wrap job from coming undone.
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