“Energy efficiency is foremost on everyone’s mind these days,” says Jörg Spiekermann, Head of Sales for Palletizing and Packaging Systems Consumer Goods at the BEUMER Group. “On the one hand, rising energy costs mean we must manufacture our systems and machines energy-efficiently. To achieve this, we rely on sustainable production at our sites in Germany.” For example, a photovoltaic system on the roof of BEUMER’s company headquarters produces enough green electricity to cover around 20 percent of the total energy requirements in Beckum. On the other hand, customers demand that BEUMER solutions enable them to work energy-efficiently. Spiekermann says, “These customer demands are aimed at our packaging systems and other products – a strategic factor for remaining competitive.”
The BEUMER Group offers complete final packaging lines that match customer specifications. One component of these lines is the new, modularized BEUMER stretch hood A.
Energy efficient operation
BEUMER has redesigned its high-performance stretch hood A, focusing on energy-efficient electric operation. And there’s more: To further reduce energy requirements, expensive blowing air for cooling the film weld seam and the hydraulics are no longer required. “Our compact, high-performance packaging system requires only 0.03 kilowatts per hour per pallet,” explains the BEUMER expert. The reduced consumption of compressed air saves costs. There is also no chance of leakage at any point since hydraulics are no longer being used. This also saves more than costs, because in the case of hydraulics in particular, leaking oil can pollute the environment and soil the packaged goods. So the stretch hood A is ideal for the food industry.
Spiekermann: “Our customers come from different sectors, including the building materials, chemicals, cement and consumer goods industries. For example, they pack peat, humus and alternative planting substrates, tiles and glassware, detergent cartons, paint buckets or various packages chaotically stacked on one another.” The system covers the palletized load units with a highly elastic stretch hood. The stretch film adapts perfectly to each stack. As in the stretch wrapping process, the film is highly elastic and fixes the material on the pallet through horizontal and vertical contracting forces. This process thus offers significantly higher load stability. “The goods are packed from 5 sides and are safely protected against environmental influences such as sun, dirt and moisture, both during handling and external storage.” Operators can transport products to customers in perfect condition. The smooth and perforation-free surface of the film enables a clear view of the packaged goods in the customer’s sales areas. The barcodes on the goods can also be easily identified.
The packaged product is not only protected from environmental influences. The packaging also provides increased theft protection: For example, goods at the customers may repeatedly disappear en route from picking to the warehouse and arrival at the buyers – and their loss is usually not noticed. With the conventional stretch-wrap method, anyone can easily reach into the packaging opening from above and remove an item without destroying the film. The stretch hood process prevents these thefts: Any attempt to remove an item from the packaging will destroy the film.
“To conserve resources, more and more customers are coming to us demanding stretch hood film with the highest possible recyclate content of up to 30 percent”, reports Spiekermann. “Our machine can process them safely and reliably.”
