Choosing the Right Film for You

Cast Film: Made through a process of cast extrusion. Really a neat process to see. Cast Film has fantastic cling, quiet unwind, great clarity, and doesn’t need as much force to stretch. But, on the other hand, it doesn’t offer the same holding strength or tear resistance as Blown Film. But, at least from what I’ve seen, it is more common than Blown Film.

Blown Film: Made through a process of blown extrusion. Also a really neat process to see. Blown film has pretty good stretch capacity and high load containment. It also has greater tear resistance which makes it a bit better than Cast in loads with sharp edges. But Blown Film can be more expensive than Cast while not providing as much clarity and unwinding louder.

Downgauging: We see this a lot in applications where a company cares more about overall “cost savings” as opposed to the upfront “price” of a product. Downgauging is an industry term for going from a commodity type higher gauge film to a high performance thinner gauge film. Though the price per roll may increase, the footage per load may decrease, which will provide an overall cost savings.

Hand Film: This is film that, as the name kind of suggests, is used by hand. Normally like 15” to 18”, and 600-1500’ per roll, Hand Film is almost always less than 10 lbs per roll, and comes on a 3” core.

Machine Film: Yup, you guessed it, used on a machine (or Wrapper). Normally like 20” or 30”, and 3,500-10,000’ per roll, Machine Film varies from 25 lbs/rl on the low end up to 60+ lbs/rl on the high end. These also normally come on 3” cores.

Bundling Film: These are those short rolls, like 3” or 5”, that people use for all kinds of stuff. Wrapping around the tops of mixed pallets to hold stuff together before they can get it over to their stretch wrapping machine, wrapping around the ends of longer products like rebar or tubes to hold them together, or using to add some strength to boxes. Lots of used for this stuff. Most commonly seen in 80G or 120G.

Pre-Stretch: Sometimes called “Pre-Stretched” Film. If you’re not using this already, please ask us about this. Basically, the film is what the name sounds like, pre-stretched from the factory. Lots of advantages, but speaking as guy that still works in a warehouse, please switch to a pre-stretched film for your employees. Not only is there a cost savings for you, but it’s so much easier to apply for your employees. They, and your accountant, will thank you.

Cling: You can get one side, two side, or differential cling. I’m not going to explain the first two to you. If you’ve made it this far then I know you get it. But differential cling is basically where one side has a higher cling than the other.

Thickness: This one can get confusing. Most common UOM is Gauge, but you’ll see it as Mil, Mic (Micron), MM, and in some cases inches. Google will help you convert these to the UOM that makes the most sense to you. But, basically, an 80 Gauge (80G) film is 0.80 Mil, which is 20.3 Micron, or 0.0203 MM, which is, stay with me, 0.0008”.

Sustainability: Okay, let’s be honest, stretch film isn’t the best thing that’s ever happened for the planet. It is, in essence, the process of pulling fossil fuels from out of the ground and eventually putting them in landfills. And, as far as I know, there is no better product for containing loads than stretch film. BUT, there are some Stretch Film products out there that do significantly reduce the carbon footprint of using it. For instance, there are films out there that are made from 100% Recycled Resin, or resins produced from renewable biological sources, or 100% Recyclable film, or Bio-Compostable Film, or Bio-Degradable Film, or even coreless film. So there are some options out there for us. If your company has any sustainability and/or lower carbon footprint initiatives then we would be happy to help you find the right film!