Many companies realize the inherent downsides of manually wrapping their pallets. It’s a slow process that burns more money, and it’s also less effective than automation. Companies need to look at why hand-wrapping pallets is not cost effective and make changes to do away with this outdated process.

It’s More Time Consuming

On average, manually wrapping a pallet in protective wrap takes about four minutes, while a designated machine completes the task in half the time. Hand-wrapping pallets is a slower process, and your employees’ time and effort should focus on other important tasks.

It Poses a Higher Risk of Injury

Human error is the leading cause of most injuries. Workers manually moving around and wrapping pallets stocked with heavy loads creates an unnecessary risk of injury. Minimizing this risk keeps your employees safe and potentially lowers insurance rates.

It Provides Less Balanced Freight Protection

When employees hand-wrap pallets, they do so with less precision. This lack of precision is one of the primary examples of why hand-wrapping pallets is not cost effective. More film is used, which results in a higher cost of materials. A hand-wrapped pallet is also generally less secure, as the wrappings may be inconsistent in tightness throughout, resulting in more potential risk for damage during transport.

You’ll Less on Materials

The initial cost of upgrading to an automatic or semiautomatic machine is an investment. However, the money that companies save by reducing the amount of film necessary to safely and adequately wrap each pallet will generally start showing returns within a year.

If your company uses colored stretch wrap for brand recognition, you want to ensure it arrives pristine and undamaged. Keeping costs low and presentation high is a great reason to move away from hand-wrapping pallets. When you’re looking at all the time and money that goes into wrapping pallets by hand, consider ways to reduce those expenses. How long after upgrading to automation for pallet-wrapping will you see a return of investment? This is just one factor to examine moving forward.