Overview of Our Types of Packaging Materials: Which Is Right for You?

banding and strapping materials | Felins

At Felins we equip each client with a full-service packaging solution, from the initial inquiry through installation and continuing service and support.

We proudly and purposefully offer an abundance of commercial and sustainable packaging material options for each of our product lines -- and we’ll gladly help you choose the perfect solutions for your application and budget. Because we work diligently to ensure all materials are in stock, you can feel confident your packaging materials will be available when you need them. 

Together, we’ll make sure your product looks great -- after all, the first thing your customers see is how your product is packaged.

 

What to Consider When Choosing a Banding Material

From poly tape and stretch film to plastic banding and shrink film, we’re confident you’ll find a perfect banding material from our variety of options. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, Felins can help you choose the right packaging solution. Our seasoned experts are happy to help you find the sustainable packaging material that works perfectly for your application. 

We’ll consider factors such as:

Industry

  • Desired graphics & imagery on the packaging
  • Does the product need to be shelf-ready for display?

Product 

  • Size, shape, and weight of the product being packaged
  • Shape of the product -- does it include oddly shaped and/or varying lengths?

Cost

  • Amount of material required to band the product(s) -- how do we use as little material as possible while keeping the product(s) secure?
  • Number of product(s) being banded per day

Sustainability

  • How can we help minimize the amount of packaging required?
  • Target consumers’ shopping habits re: environmental impact

If you have any questions about any of these factors, please contact us! Our team is made up of packaging experts. We’ll be able to guide you through the process of picking out the best material for your company and products. 

 

Paper Banding

What is Paper Banding?

paper banding | FelinsPaper banding is the best bundling option to showcase products and protect delicate, high-end materials. An alternative to strapping, banding uses wide but thin material to keep a strong hold on products without causing damage. 

Paper banding is very similar to pressure sensitive labels and chipboard sleeves, but includes some additional advantages:

  • Easy removal without tools
  • Live, inline printing
  • Vibrant, stunning graphics on pre-printed material
  • Large selection of material & machine options
  • Minimal packing materials are required to unitize products with a narrow band rather than complete enclosure, with the added benefit of reduced carbon footprint
  • Reduced labor requirements and minimal changeovers, thanks to automated technology that uses minimal floor space
  • Energy efficiency, no heat (and subsequent cooling) required
  • No need for adhesives; ultrasonic welding creates a fast & clean seal

Whether you're just getting started with banding or need a robust plastic strap machine for your advanced packaging line, we have systems from table-top to fully-automatic paper and plastic banding machines that can accommodate your application.

 

Industry Applications of Banding

banding example food | FelinsFood

Felins offers many processing solutions for companies looking for an eco-friendly way to automatically label, sleeve, and/or multipack food products

These solutions provide:

Superior Labeling

Instead of using adhesives to secure labels or sleeves to your product, we apply them with tension and use an ultrasonic weld to secure everything in place. 

Superior Sleeving

Our machinery uses similar technology as our labeling solution to create adhesive-free sleeving. Machines apply the labels in the same manner, but with paperboard instead of plastic film. Once applied, you don’t have to worry about the sleeve sliding off or using a glue dot to hold the sleeve in place.

Our labels and sleeves are designed to work well on any kind of tray, skin pack, hot dog and sausage pack, and a variety of other products.

Multipacks & Club Packs

The same tensioning process that we use for our premium labeling and automatic sleeving works great for creating multipacks and club packs. Our ability to precisely and gently apply the label or sleeve allows us to securely hold a group of products together without the use of adhesives.

We have fully automated solutions which can stack or group your products, or you can manually create a stack and then apply the label or band.

 

Cosmetics, Healthcare, & Pharmaceutical

Our tailored solutions for these industries use banding to provide secondary packaging solutions to bundle cartons, wipes, sachets, and blister packs. Banding also works well to secure coils of medical tubing and to secure medical devices for transport.

Healthcare workers don’t have time to fumble around with packaging; our perforated paper material allows workers to quickly remove and access the supplies they need.

As counterfeit medicines and medical devices infiltrate the marketplace, it’s crucial to be able to track your products in transit from the manufacturing facility to the sales outlet. That’s where our Track & Trace technology comes in: we can integrate a thermal transfer printer to apply barcodes, QR codes, lot codes, production dates, or any other relevant data onto the band to enable product traceability and tracking.

 

Manufacturing

Safety, security and sustainability: we understand the factors that drive packaging decisions for the manufacturing industry.

Each of our eco-friendly technologies uses less material, creates less waste, and helps better allocate labor resources than traditional methods. From bundling anything from gaskets to assemblies, hardware tools to nail coils, and hoses to wire coils, Felins can find a way to package your product while speeding up production.

 

E-commerce

E-commerce was gaining momentum even before we were encouraged to stay home due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- and as the world has opened back up, consumers are saying they’ll continue to primarily shop online. This boom is affecting every facet of the e-commerce industry, and Felins can provide the methods to streamline your e-commerce packaging needs.

We’ve all experienced “box-within-a-box” packaging and ridiculous amounts of void-fill in oversized boxes when receiving a small item. One of our primary concerns at Felins is reducing all of this excessive packaging waste, and banding is an excellent solution. Banding secures small and oddly shaped items with a corrugated insert to prevent items from rattling around inside the box during shipping.

 

Types of Paper Banding

  • Brown (Kraft) paper
  • White paper
  • Pre-printed
  • Antibacterial
  • Chipboard sleeves

Features of Paper Banding

  • High-quality pre-printed graphics
  • Easily removable materials – no cutting tools required
  • Materials compatible with inline printers
  • FDA-approved materials
  • Made of recyclable materials
  • Easily removable materials – no cutting tools required

 

Plastic Banding

What is Plastic Banding? 

Plastic banding has most of the same benefits and applications as paper banding, with some differences.

Plastic banding is a common solution for companies in the Food, Healthcare, Manufacturing, E-commerce, and Pharmaceutical industries. Read below for how it provides particularly useful solutions for consumer goods and corrugated packaging.

Industry Applications of Plastic Banding

Consumer Goods

Consumer-facing retail goods are among the trickiest to package. The ways people shop change nearly constantly in this day and age, so it’s more important than ever to capture their attention. In 2021, that means unique and sustainable packaging.

Felins’ banding and shrink wrapping solutions for commercial packaging are highly customizable -- resulting in major reductions to the amount of packaging material needed to protect products during transit, while also making them display-ready for store shelves. 

Our eco-friendly and recyclable options (including papers, plastics, and transparent films) showcase products and compostable materials to satisfy consumers who demand sustainable packaging.

Pre-printed banding is available to display marketing, branding, and product information, and inline printing is available to feature variable data such as, bar codes, expiration dates, lot codes, and QR codes.

Corrugated

Felins' corrugated packaging technology optimizes product bundling to save our clients and their customers’ time and money, by cutting down on excess labor and materials. 

Strapping is liable to damage product packaging and even the product itself, and is difficult to remove. Instead, we use ultrasonic banding to secure boxes, unitize cartons, bundle packaging tubes, and more. 

Our corrugated packaging equipment provides a clean solution, with zero damage to the product using a material that is easily recyclable -- drastically reducing waste and production costs.

Types of Plastic Banding

  • Colored
  • High Strength
  • Transparent
  • Pre-printed
  • Biodegradable
  • Anti-bacterial
  • Recyclable

Features of Plastic Banding

  • Printed graphics
  • Materials are easy to remove without cutting tools
  • Compatible with inline printers
  • FDA-approved materials
  • Eco friendly, biodegradable materials

Banding as an Alternative to Strapping

Banding is in many -- but not all -- cases a better alternative to strapping. 

Top advantages of banding are that the product being packaged doesn’t need to be bound as tightly, which is gentler on the product. Banding also allows for high-quality printing, a wider variety of binding materials, and easier opening. 

Still, strapping has its advantages: when expected tensile forces of the packaging exceed 30 kg, strapping is the solution that can best provide the necessary stability. 

The following are some of the main reasons manufacturers select banding over strapping as their primary source of bundling:

Reduced likelihood of damage. When a product becomes too constricted via bundling it results in irreversible damage, such as ripped edges and corners. Ultrasonic banding technology allows a machine to sense when the banding material touches the product and then apply a variable, appropriate amount of tension.

Room for branding & creativity. Bands allow for color printing on both sides, which means they can take on the role of an information and advertising medium for packaging. They can also be printed with dynamic information, e.g. batch numbers, product codes, and sell-by dates. 

 

Tying

What is Tying?

floral tying material | FelinsThe most economical bundling method, tying accommodates a variety of material options, including twine, plastic, elastic, and biodegradable / food-grade material.

Tying allows facilities to Increase productivity, reduce labor costs, and eliminates repetitive motion for operators. 

Industries That Benefit from Tying

Floral

Floral tying technology can be integrated seamlessly into floral production plants, increasing productivity while minimizing worker injury from repetitive motion. A variety of materials can be used to secure bunches and bouquets, such as twine, plastic, elastic, and biodegradable material.

Our tying equipment offers a clean solution, reducing the need for multiple rubber bands that are usually applied by hand.  Flower bouquets and wholesale flowers stay in place better and with minimal damage to their stems, thanks to adjustable tension controls.

Food

One of the most common applications of Felins tying equipment in the food industry is our equipment to automatically truss rotisserie chickens. 

Our company was founded in 1921 when our founder discovered a way to efficiently tie a string around sausages. We have been refining that design ever since, and are proud to offer a variety of food grade elastics to meet a variety of unique trussing requirements. When compared to manual trussing operations, our automated solution increases throughput and reduces repetitive motion injuries.

Manufacturing

Tying is an excellent replacement for manually applied rubber bands -- read more here.

Types of Tying Materials

  • Poly tape
  • Elastomers
  • Poly cotton twine
  • USPS-approved materials

 

Shrink Wrapping

What is Shrink Wrapping?

shrink wrapped laundry | FelinsThe best way to keep products clean, shrink wrapping showcases them without exposing them to dirt and debris. An alternative to bagging and hand wrapping, shrink wrapping also helps eliminate bottlenecks and reduce labor costs.

No changeover is required for varying product sizes, and machinery can be stand-alone or combined with heat tunnels, both requiring little-to-no operator assistance. The result is attractive bundles that are easy to handle.

Industries That Benefit from Shrink Wrapping

Textile

We help clients:

  • Manage product flow automatically, all the way through the bundling process.
  • Reduce manual labor costs, reducing operator injury claims by freeing them from repetitive tasks.
  • Improve bundle presentation of varying shapes and sizes, while also keeping them free of dirt and debris.
  • Find eco-friendly solutions that are sustainable for the environment.

Efficiency is the name of the game for the textiles industry, from in-plant transportation to final finishing and packaging. Felins customizes textile packaging machinery while reducing labor costs and packaging waste.

From commercial shrink wrap machines to banding, our textile packaging solutions are designed to combat chaos in your facility and generate ROI.

Laundry

Commercial laundries rely on processes that consistently result in presentable products, every time. Felins offers unique packaging machinery for their applications, from shrink wrapping to banding machines, conveyor systems to tying machines. 

Whether you need a stand-alone, semi-automatic, or fully automated solution, Felins laundry bundling machines offer the same benefits as above for any kind of laundry application, plus: 

  • Complete product over-wrap and protection that keeps laundry clean, available with custom films.
  • Track & Trace technology: precisely monitor large volumes of laundry piece-by-piece, with thermal transfer printing that applies data such as bar codes, QR codes, lot codes, production dates, customer information, etc. onto the banding.

From high-end hospitality linens to shop towels to deeply sanitized hospital linens -- even rolled rugs -- we’ve got your laundry needs covered.

Features of Shrink Wrapping

  • High clarity
  • Thin gauge
  • Low slip
  • High tensile strength
  • Corrosion-free sealing
  • Puncture resistant
  • High shrink
  • Low shrink

 

Stretch Film Banding

What is Stretch Film Banding? 

With adjustable wrapping tension and flexible material, stretch film banding machines can fit the needs of nearly any product -- big or small, strong or delicate, boxy or abnormally shaped.

This banding methodology uses a heat seal to adhere material to itself, without glue or sealant.
Products are kept secure without damage, and spiral banding keeps irregular lengths in place -- all using economical material.

Industries that Benefit from Stretch Film Banding

In addition to the manufacturing industry, major beneficiaries of stretch film banding include:

Lumber & Wood

How can you package long, awkward wood pieces that are deemed too large, wide, and/or dense? What's the best way to wrap or band wood bundles? 

These are the questions that have brought customers in the wood and lumber industries to us for years. With products that vary in size, density and shape, it's no wonder the wood industry struggles to find one-machine-fits-all material solutions. 

That's where we come in, as a member of the Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America, and a trusted partner in the wood industry for decades. We provide wood wrapping machines and materials to bundle even the most difficult products, such as long and/or oddly shaped pieces of vinyl flooring, wood molding and trim. 

With automated and adjustable settings, you can control how tightly you'd like the plastic and/or stretch film to wrap, ensuring your product is secure and protected. Our wood bundler machines can be semi-automatic or fully-automated and we can help you integrate into your current production process.

PVC Pipe

For similar reasons cited above, stretch film banding is an efficient solution for shipping and displaying PVC pipes.

Features of Stretch Film Banding 

  • Printed
  • Colored
  • UV light-protected
  • Thicknesses from 53-200 gauge
  • 2” & 3” widths

 

Rubber Banding

What is Rubber Banding?

rubber banded asparagus | FelinsRubber-banding manually by hand is a tedious task that uses a lot of time and energy. Automatic rubber-branding eliminates repetitive motion injuries and is completely customizable.

Industries That Use Rubber Banding

Food

Bunch together loose produce such as carrots and celery.

Floral

Bundle bouquets and other retail-ready floral presentations.

Pharmaceutical

Allergen and latex-free materials are available for grouping bottles and other products.

Manufacturing

Secure and bundle together oddly-shaped products.

Features of Rubber Banding 

  • Elastomers
  • Latex-free rubber bands
  • Custom sizes

 

Strapping

What is Strapping?

currency strapping| FelinsStrapping machines provide a way to both bundle and showcase products, and are often chosen when bundling a wide variety of products together. The strapping material can range from hard rigid straps to soft, ribbon-like material. 

Strapping machines bind material around the product with strength and security, and can even be made tamper-proof. They replace the need for manual strapping tools, such as tensioners and cutters. The tension and strap strength are set by the operator.

Industries that use strapping as a cost-effective way to bundle products include: Consumer Goods, Food, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Pharmaceutical.

Features of Strapping

  • High-quality loop formations
  • Consistent welds
  • Complete cuts

 

HAVE QUESTIONS? 

Contact our team of packaging experts! We can provide free consultations, help answer your concerns, test your products for free and more! Email Sales@felins.com or give us a call at (800) 843-5667

 

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