Why Stretch Hood Beats Stretch Wrap for Load Stability
Stretch hood can often provide better load stability than stretch wrap alone.
Stretch wrap, if applied correctly with 200+% pre-stretch, can provide a lot of horizontal containment forces, but struggles with unitizing the load to the pallet. This can result in shifted loads that can collapse pallets or make a mess in a warehouse or truck.
Stretch hoods applied by MSK's packaging machines allow you to stretch a fixed perimeter tube over your pallet + load, and then vertically stretch the hood and release the film on the side of the pallet or under the pallet (best for load stability). That stretch hood has elastic forces that provide both horizontal and vertical holding forces.
Think of a stretch hood like a sock on a foot – if you put on a thicker sock, it's tighter on your foot; if you put on a smaller sock, it's tighter on your foot.
The Vertical Advantage
The vertical component to stretch hood is where it really shines over stretch wrap. Having downward forces is like having a vertical strap on your load. It helps increase the forces required to break friction between layers.
Not All Stretch Hooders Are Equal
Not all stretch hooders can properly control the film during application. MSK's systems allow you to control vertical stretch in three different zones on a pallet, allowing you to be gentle on sharp top corners or hold the film longer and pull down really tightly over a rounded-top load like a bulk bag.
This is what sets MSK's stretch hooders apart and often allows for using less film sizes and thinner film, saving you money in the end.
Consistency You Can Count On
The best part of a stretch hood, besides weather protection, is that it's consistent. Stretch wrappers allow operators to change number of windings, pre-stretch, overlap, etc. Just go to any large plant with several stretch wrappers and see if all loads are coming out of them perfectly, over years of operation. With a stretch hooder, every load gets the same forces and the same packaging.