A wrapping machine seals a product in film, either as a closed pack or as a bundle. We supply flow wrap machines for single solid products, shrink wrap machines that seal film around a pack and shrink it tight, sleeve sealers that bundle bottles and cans, twist wrapping for sweets, and stretch wrappers for boxes and pallets. Each is configured to suit your product, pack and output, and you can trial yours at our Riversands showroom.
Start with the product and how it is sold. Does the film enclose one product or bundle several together? Does it have to shrink tight around the pack? How many packs a day do you run? The table matches the product to the wrapping machine that suits it.
| What you wrap | Typical products | Machine that suits it |
|---|---|---|
| Single solid products in a sealed pillow pack | Chocolate and granola bars, bar soap, biscuits, hardware parts, trays of fresh produce or meat | Flow wrap machine |
| Boxes, cartons and small multipacks in tight, tamper-evident film | Cosmetics, egg trays, boxed hardware, food cartons | L-bar sealer with shrink tunnel |
| Long or variable-length products | Profiles, curtain rails, pipes, posters | Side sealer with shrink tunnel |
| Bottle and can multipacks with open ends | Water, soft drinks, beer, detergent bottles | Sleeve sealer and shrink tunnel |
| Individual sweets | Hard and soft sweets | Twist wrapping machine |
| Boxes and pallets for storage and transport | Cartons and palletised loads | Pallet wrapping machine |
For shrink wrapping, daily volume narrows the choice further: up to about 500 packs a day suits a manual L-bar sealer, 500 to 2,000 a semi-automatic L-bar with a shrink tunnel, 2,000 to 6,000 an automatic L-bar, and more than 6,000 an automatic side sealer with a shrink tunnel. A flow wrap machine runs continuously: the pepper line we have supplied wraps 20 to 60 packs a minute. If you already seal elsewhere and only need the heat-shrink stage, a standalone shrink tunnel adds it. For every shrink wrap option side by side, see shrink wrap machines.
Looking for a cling film wrapper for food trays? We do not supply small heated-plate tray wrappers. For trays at production volume, a flow wrap machine seals each tray in film, as on the meat and fresh produce lines we have supplied.
See it running
Wrapping machines from the range running, from flow-wrapped hardware and shrink-wrapped egg trays to bottle multipacks and twist-wrapped sweets.
Products feed onto the infeed, are wrapped in a tube of film, sealed along the length and cut into packs.
Drawer slides and hardware parts are flow wrapped, then the film is shrunk tight in a tunnel.
An L-shaped bar seals and trims the film around each egg tray, then the tunnel shrinks it.
A continuous side seal lets long profiles of any length run straight through the machine.
Film wraps the bottles as a sleeve with open ends, and the tunnel shrinks it tight around the pack.
Each sweet is wrapped in film and both ends are twisted closed.
Wrapping machines close film around a product in different ways, and the method decides the pack. A flow wrap machine forms roll film into a tube around each product, seals it underneath, then seals and cuts the ends to make a pillow pack. A shrink wrap machine seals film around the product with a heated bar, and a shrink tunnel then heats the film so it pulls tight. A sleeve sealer wraps a bundle and leaves the ends open before the tunnel shrinks it. A twist wrapper wraps each sweet and twists the ends shut. A pallet wrapping machine turns the load on a turntable, or drives around it, while stretch film is pulled tight around it, with no heat at all.
For the detail, read how a flow wrap machine works and how shrink wrap machines work.
Each product below has its own page, with the wrapping machine we recommend for it and the lines we have supplied.
Peppers, cucumbers and other vegetables flow wrapped on a tray or one by one. See the fresh produce wrapping machine.
Fresh and frozen meat in trays sealed in film, and whole chickens shrink wrapped. See the meat wrapping machine.
Chocolate slabs, granola and protein bars, and bar soap, each flow wrapped. See the chocolate wrapping machine.
Water, soft drinks and beer bundled into packs of 6, 12 or 24 with open ends. See the sleeve sealer and shrink tunnel.
Profiles, rails and boxed hardware sealed in shrink film. See the side sealer and the L-bar sealer.
Sweets twist wrapped one at a time. Watch the candy twist wrapping video.
Buying
We supply wrapping machines configured to suit your product, pack and output, and customise them at our Riversands workshop. Send us your product and the film you use or plan to use, and we run it on the machine at our Riversands showroom before you order. Every wrapping machine is installed by our own technicians, with operator training, a one-year warranty and spares held in Johannesburg.
Our PDF catalogue has images and specification tables for the wrapping machines on this page. Download it, or request a quote for your product.
A flow wrap machine seals each food tray in film at production volume, as on the meat and fresh produce lines we have supplied, and an L-bar sealer with a shrink tunnel shrink wraps trays such as eggs and frozen meat. Small heated-plate cling film wrappers are not part of our range.
A sleeve sealer with a shrink tunnel. It groups bottles or cans into packs of 6, 12 or 24, wraps them in LDPE film with the ends open, and shrinks the film tight so the pack is easy to carry and stacks well. It is supplied semi-automatic, with an operator grouping each pack, or fully automatic.
Not usually. A flow wrap machine seals the pack itself. A shrink tunnel is added after the flow wrapper only where the film should pull tight around the product, as on the hardware line we have supplied that flow wraps drawer slides and then shrinks the film.
Daily output decides how automated the wrapping machine should be. Small shrink-wrap runs suit a manual L-bar sealer, growing volumes a semi-automatic or automatic L-bar sealer with a shrink tunnel, and continuous high output a side sealer or a flow wrap machine, which runs at 20 to 60 packs a minute on the pepper line we have supplied.
A stretch wrapper, or pallet wrapping machine, wraps stretch film under tension around a palletised load to hold it together for storage and transport. Turntable, rotary arm and self-propelled pallet wrappers are covered on the pallet wrapping machine.
