Learn About 4 Different Types of Wrapping Machines for Your Product

Welcome to Package This — your guide to packaging machinery and materials. Today’s episode is dedicated to the four main types of wrapping equipment:

• Flow Wrappers
• Shrink Wrappers & Heat Tunnels for Single Items
• Overwrappers; and
• Twist Wrappers.

While each type is a distinct technology, all take a flexible packaging material — such as usually film but also foil or paper — and envelop it around a product.

Flow Wrappers

First off, let’s look at flow wrappers, which wrap individual packages or products such as candy bars by forming a continuous stream of material into a tube shape around the item that is later sealed and cut. 

In this example from Syntegon, we see just how flexible and versatile a flow wrapping system can be. Syntegon flow wrappers handle a wide variety of products and are compatible with many infeed and loading systems. 

Designed to be highly accessible, Syntegon wrappers allow for fast changeovers and easy maintenance. Hygienic features are often important in wrapping, such as in this pizza application, and these Syntegon machines feature stainless steel designs; some models are also equipped with advanced washdown features.

To hold up for long production runs, wrappers need to be robust and reliable. This wrapper is built for continuous operation, utilizing production proven technology and high-quality parts.

Shrink wrappers

Shrink wrappers are another type of wrapper that uses heat-shrinkable film. These machines run all sizes of products, including items with irregular shapes or sharp edges.

For example, automatic shrink wrappers from Eastey automatically seal and shrink wrap a wide variety of products, from toys and sporting goods to canned goods and more.

Available with a hot knife seal head, Eastey’s VSA1825 shrink wrapper features a powered takeaway conveyor, motorized seal height adjustment, magnetic clamping, and automatic cycle timing to ensure a proper seal.

Some applications may require a large seal area, and Eastey’s VSA1825 is designed with an 18-inch-wide by 25-inch-long seal area for packages up to 7 inches tall. Eastey's automatic seal system is designed for efficiency, allowing users to seal up to 40 packages per minute. 

Overwrappers

Overwrappers are machines that are typically designed to package flat, straight-edged products such as cartons or flat boxes. Overwrapping equipment is often used to provide an additional layer of protection to a primary package, such as wrapping clear plastic film over a small carton containing a perfume bottle or overwrapping a carton of tea with cellophane.

The overwrapping process starts by pushing the product through heat-sealable film that is cut from a larger roll. The film is then tucked and folded around the product before heated plates seal the film with a tight crease, giving the package an appearance that is reminiscent of gift wrapping.

Twist wrappers

Last but not least is a specialty type of wrapping machine: twist wrappers.

Also known as bunch wrappers, these machines are widely used in the confectionery industry to package small, individual units such as hard candies and bonbons. In a typical twist wrapping application, the product is fed and staged in line for wrapping.

At the same time, the machine unwinds the film rollstock to get the precise amount of film needed to wrap the product, cuts the film to size, and pushes the piece to be wrapped into place around the film. Then the rotary grippers grab the two ends to quickly fold and twist film around the product, forming the double twist wrap.

And that’s a wrap! We hope you enjoyed this overview of the most common types of wrapping equipment used in packaging! Before you go, please like and share this video with your colleagues on LinkedIn! Join us for more videos on packaging machinery and materials by subscribing to our full Package This series on YouTube.

And if you’re in the market for new wrapping equipment or any other machines or packaging materials, be sure to check out PMMI ProSource, North America’s most complete packaging and processing directory with over 1,000 of the top suppliers.

Thanks for watching and until our next video, keep on packaging!