Devices and method for accurately measuring the length of film feeding into a pre-stretch carriage from a supply roll and the length of film exiting after the pre-stretch carriage in order to accurately determine the actual percentage of film stretch occurring during the wrap cycle are provided. A first idler roller mounted on the frame of a pre-stretch carriage before the pre-stretching rollers and second idler roller mounted to the frame after the pre-stretching rollers are included. Optical rotary encoders are driven directly by idler roller shafts as stretch film passes around the shafts during film application. Systems including internet of things (HOT) devices can be fitted or retro fitted to a wide variety of stretch wrapping machines.

A device and corresponding systems and methods are provided for wrapping an object resting on an object conveyor defining an object path, the object conveyor conveying the object in a forward direction along the object path, the device comprising: an orbital wrapping mechanism configured to travel in an elliptical path around the object path and to deposit a stretch wrapping material; a wrapping material conveyor configured for cooperation with the object conveyor, the wrapping material conveyor positioned beneath the object conveyor such that when the orbital wrapping mechanism travels along the elliptical path, the orbital wrapping mechanism deposits the stretch wrapping material around both at least a portion of the object and at least a portion of the wrapping material conveyor, the wrapping material conveyor having at least one bearing surface in contact with the stretch wrapping material and movable in a forward direction such that the stretch wrapping material is conveyed along with the object in the forward direction.

A wrapping machine with rotary platform for wrapping products with one band includes a base, a rotary platform defining a supporting plane and mounted on the base to rotate about a rotation axis perpendicular to the supporting plane, and supporting rollers interposed between the base and platform and distributed around the rotation axis. The machine also includes a guiding upright parallel to the rotation axis, a supporting slide movable along the guiding upright for receiving and retaining a reel of band, an intermediate disc mounted between and coupled to the base and platform to rotate about the rotation axis, the supporting rollers being mounted on the intermediate disc and in contact with the base and platform, and a transmission system for rotating the platform and intermediate disc about the rotation axis.

A compact palletizer including a skeleton, stretch wrap system, and a subassembly. Components of the skeleton are constructed of aluminum, which provides advantages over the prior art in terms of strength, rigidity, weight, and cost. The aluminum may be pre-tensioned or prestressed to provide these advantages. The subassembly is preferably mounted to the side of the skeleton. The compact palletizer is readily portable, and robotic elements of the compact palletizer do not need to be reprogrammed after transport, so installation time is substantially reduced compared with prior art palletizers. A compact stretch wrap system further allows for wrapping palletized products within the compact palletizer.

An automated system and method wrap the fastening ties around the body of a continuous stream of facemasks in a facemask production line. The facemasks are oriented such that each facemask has a leading pair of ties and a trailing pair of ties extending from a body in a conveying direction of the production line. The leading pair of ties is drawn below the body as the facemask continues to be conveyed in the conveying and wraps under the body. Subsequently, an impinging force is directed onto the body that is sufficient to cause the body to flip backwards at least once as the facemask continues to be conveyed in the conveying direction, thereby causing the leading and trailing pairs of ties to further wrap around the body.

A method determines a wrapping configuration of a film wrapped around products to form a palletized load to be moved along a path. The method includes using a defined wrapping configuration, measuring physical quantities acting on the load as a result of movements and/or stresses when the load is moved along different test paths, obtaining a path as a suitable composition of base elementary path stretches, obtaining physical quantities acting on the load along the path as physical quantities associated to the base elementary path stretches, positioning the load on a motion platform, operating the motion platform based on the physical quantities to simulate movements and/or stresses acting on the load moved along the path, checking if the load has remained stable and/or compact, modifying the wrapping configuration if the load did not remain stable and/or compact, and repeating the steps.

A wrapping apparatus, its components, and corresponding methods for wrapping a load in packaging material are described herein. The apparatus has a packaging material dispenser having a frame and a plurality of packaging material supplies. The apparatus also has a load press for wrapping an upper surface of the load, where the load press has a central press section and a peripheral press section which can disengage the upper surface to allow wrapping of at least a part thereof. The apparatus also has an enclosure to prevent access during operation, as well as a packaging material seeking assembly which seeks out the packaging material to be wrapped. The apparatus and methods described allow for an automatic wrapping of a load which minimizes operator intervention, and further allow for the automatic resupply of packaging material.

A transportable container for flowable bulk goods includes a bottom support and a stretch wrap spirally wrapped around the bottom support and extending vertically in relationship to the bottom support. Bulk goods are disposed within the stretch wrap and at least of portion of the bulk goods are disposed in direct contact with the stretch wrap to squeeze the bulk goods together and generate hoop forces for stabilizing the bulk goods in the transportable container. The transportable container has a shape that varies radially in vertical relationship to the bottom support for adjusting the hoop forces vertically along the transportable container. The varied shape of the transportable container can be, for example, tapered, hour-glass shaped, or pumpkin shaped.

A method, apparatus and program product implement top layer containment operations to optimize containment of various types of loads such as loads with top/slip sheets, ragged topographies, and/or inboard portions. Bidirectional control of the elevation of a web of packaging material may be performed within one or more revolutions between a load and a packaging material dispenser to selectively engage one or more corners of the load with a web of packaging material while passing the web of packaging material inwardly of one or more other corners of the load.

A sleeve labeling machine includes a center column, a transmission device, and a cutter device. The center column can unfold the shrink film, and a transmission device will carry the shrink film and let the shrink film sleeve on the center column. Then, the cutter device will cut the shrink film, and the transmission device will keep pulling each cut shrink film to cover the surface of a bottle or a can. Finally, the transmission device will convoy bottles or cans to the next device, and let the shrink film combine with the bottle or the can to complete the bottle or can sleeve labeling process.