iWrap Managed Services – an exciting new way to run and fund your pallet wrap operation

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It’s time to say goodbye to downtime and poor pallet wrap performance

iWrap Managed Services is a market-leading service that improves and optimises your pallet wrap operation – while also reducing your costs and plastic use – it’s an innovative way to manage and finance your pallet wrap operation.

Inspired by the technology sector – it’s no longer about paying for the hardware and consumables, but it’s all about paying for the business benefits.

Managing your business day to day means keeping a number of vital cogs turning. But, if your pallet wrap operation lets you down, everything grinds to a halt. We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen. This way, you can improve the performance of your pallet wrap operation without making significant up-front investments, and start reaping the performance benefits straight away, while protecting your business capital, which can be deployed more effectively elsewhere in your organisation.

Save time. Save money. Drive efficiencies. Reduce plastic.

To keep your logistics moving, constantly monitoring your pallet wrap systems is critical.
Proactive monitoring prevents potential issues before they happen, and avoids major downtime. As a part of our iWrap Managed Services, proactive monitoring also helps you make informed strategic and tactical business decisions about how you run your pallet wrap
operation more effectively.

Our sophisticated monitoring technology provides real-time system diagnostics, and notifications. Instant alerts will draw your attention to anything abnormal so we can investigate and address potential problems before they happen, mitigating risk, whilst maximising operational effectiveness.

Free up capital and reduce your risk

Instead of making large, up-front payments and investments in your pallet wrap operation, you have the ability to fund it through our Managed Service, spreading the cost into simple, affordable monthly payments. With iWrap Managed Services, you can finance your pallet operation in a way that lets you benefit from the latest solutions now – while minimising risk and freeing up business capital.

Innovate your entire pallet wrap operation

iWrap Managed Services can help you select the right pallet wrap machines for your organisation, combine it with the correct high-performance film, and monitor its daily performance. All whilst overcoming the financial barriers to buying the latest technology and hardware.

A full turnkey service
Saving you time and money, whilst delivering significant return on investment.

An innovative way to pay and operate
Finance and manage your pallet wrap operation at a fixed low monthly cost.

Monitor and optimise
The latest monitoring technology delivers real-time data, intelligent analysis, predictive maintenance alerts and more.

A Complete Service
Hardware, annual maintenance, break fix maintenance, configuration, performance monitoring, and pallet wrap consumables for a low monthly cost.

Capex vs Opex
As a managed service, it’s highly tax efficient and helps you retain your working capital.

Designed around you
We tailor your solution to your budget and pallet wrap consumption, including hardware, maintenance and professional services.

Free hardware refresh options
So you’ll always benefit from the latest machinery, hardware and technology.

Reduce risk, maximise performance
We manage and monitor your entire pallet wrap operation, maximising performance whilst reducing cost.

A predictable, low-cost, high performance service

With iWrap Managed Services, you can include more than you think with our OpEx funding model, including a wide range of pallet wrapping machines and hardware, all your pallet wrap consumables including pallet wrap film, covers and hoods, maintenance, both proactive and break fit maintenance services, plus aftercare, and all other professional services that Acopia offers.

We can even include existing hardware and machinery.

iWrap Managed Services , is a full end-to-end service with a simple monthly cost. We’ll walk you through the scope and range of the service we can offer and tailor the right approach for your business based upon your exact requirements, subject to site survey and inspection.

Designing the perfect pallet wrap operation for your business

Maximise your pallet wrapping performance with guidance and advice from our leading specialists. Our specialists have many years’ experience and understanding of pallet wrapping operation, and they’re happy to share this experience and knowledge with you.

We’ll spend time on-site with you, getting to know your operation, your existing processes,
layout, systems, equipment and resourcing. Using this insight as the foundation for any future solution, our specialists will conduct a detailed cost benefit analysis and recommend ways to improve your operation.

It all starts with an initial audit, which includes:

• Capturing operational objectives and requirements
• Process mapping and analysis – to measure and assess your current processes
• Analysing your performance – and pallet wrap consumption
• Quantifying the amount of plastic consumed
• Cutting plastic waste – we’ll recommend ways to reduce the amount you use
• Process improvement recommendations – simplifying and standardising where possible to drive efficiencies
• Ergonomics recommendations – for your team members
• Sustainability recommendations – with advice on how to achieve your sustainability goals.
• We provide detailed analysis on, pallet wrap consumption, operational efficiency, load stability and safer working
• Providing a solution and implementation design – a solution design for your future pallet wrap operation

Take the risk out of your decisions when it comes to you innovating your pallet wrap operation with iWrap Managed Services.

You can find out more about iWrap Managed Services at www.iwrapuk.co.uk to download our complete guide to how it works or call us on 0845 075 6111 for more information if you would like to take advantage of our range of free advisory services and audits.

 

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Is it really worth changing your pallet wrap?

You’ll be more than aware of the challenges currently facing many businesses trying to make more sustainable switches with their plastic packaging.

With the cost of recycled plastic polymers increasing by as much as 70% during the past year, switching to a more sustainable plastic alternative can have huge implications for your business costs as well as your carbon footprint. Many businesses are discovering that striving for sustainable alternatives can be more expensive than their newly introduced Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) liability.

At a time when sticking with the status quo can be both beneficial and less disruptive for your business, is it worth making changes to your pallet wrap supply and strategy right now? Or should you sit tight and wait it out until the economic situation begins to ease?

Sometimes, the benefits to switching aren’t obvious.

Find out how much pallet wrap you’re wasting

In order to find out if it’s worth changing your pallet wrap, you need to know how much you’re wasting.

Getting answers about your pallet wrap habits and current practice will show you how much you are spending and how much you could save – both financially and environmentally.

  • Assess your current wrap thickness and quality and look at alternatives – a new generation 8 micron thickness wrap  perform just as well, if not better,  than a standard 23 micron wrap
  • Evaluate your machinery and discover where it can be improved for optimal performance – this could be recalibration, performance updates or new machinery that stretches wrap further, for greater economical use.
  • Run a containment force diagnostic on different wraps to establish which wrap is best for your needs and products which will save you money and plastic overuse.
  • Look at your current wrapping processes and consider staff training to improve efficiency and performance.

Next generation pallet wrap

Many businesses would benefit from switching to next generation pallet wrap, especially during turbulent economic times.

By making changes to your pallet wrap procurement and processes, you could potentially save 25% in costs and reduce your plastic pallet wrap use by 40%. These savings can have a big impact on your business budgets and operational efficiency.

  • Its superior strength means fewer breaks, fewer re-wraps and less over-wrapping – a huge source of money leaking and plastic waste in operations.
  • It goes further. Staff will change less rolls and speed up their processes – you’ll save around 2,056 hours a year (that’s two weeks of your time) depending on your operation.
  • You’ll save 40% of plastic from heading to landfill
  • You’ll reduce your PPT liability by lowering the waste you’re producing.

 Seeing the benefits

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Thinking about changing your pallet wrap?

As McKinsey & Company points out, building new capabilities beyond supply chain management is important if businesses are to yield the benefits from making sustainable changes within operations.

And this is what can lead to hesitance among Operations Directors when making any significant changes. Supply chain savings can be immediate, operational changes less so. The length of time it might take to see the potential benefits can be enough to stop progress in its tracks – even when you know it’s the right decision.

Let’s take a look at what happened when a major high street retailer recently invested in new pallet wrap machinery and next generation pallet wrap:

  • Production efficiency was paid back on their machinery in just 28 days
  • They made a plastic waste saving of 49.66% – a reduction of 45 tonnes of plastic wrap
  • They shipped 44 less pallets each year thanks to improved load containment
  • They saved £9,000 on PPT
  • They made 2,848 less roll changes – reducing downtime and increasing efficiency
  • They saw overall savings of £62,759

The benefits of making the switch can be seen very quickly. Pallet wrap really can be the hidden hero in your operations success for 2022 and beyond.

If you’re ready to overhaul your approach to pallet wrap, then we’re here to support you. Download our free e-guide on Pallet Wrap Best Practice here or get in touch with us below to arrange a free audit and find out how much you could save.

 

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5 reasons high-performance pallet wrap is the change you need

High-performance pallet wrap could be the change that your organisation needs – to save money, reduce Plastic Tax liabilities, improve operations, and the safe delivery of your products. It’s a simple switch to optimise your pallet wrapping and packaging processes.

Here are our five reasons why high-performance films have the power to revolutionise your operation.

1: Save money

 Yes, that’s right! High-performance pallet wrap costs you less. While more expensive on a cost-per-roll basis, the real picture of your pallet wrap spend is uncovered by calculating your cost per pallet wrapped. You can read more about this here.

Inferior quality wrap is inherently less strong contributing to breakages and leading to more pallet wrap being used initially. In addition, pallets might need rewrapping at various stages of their journey.

With high-performance film, pallets only need to be wrapped once to be secure and strong. You can also be reassured that due to the stretch properties of high-performance film, even though you are using less film – your pallet wrapping will be consistent and have exceptional stability. By switching to a high-performance film, we estimate that you could save an average of 25% in costs.

High-performance pallet wrap

High-performance pallet wrap

2: Save time

The strength of pallet wrap is in its stretch. Low performance film does not have the same stretch capabilities of high-performance wrap. Too much stretch and it will break leading to multiple wraps per pallet. Leading to time wasted by your team and others down the distribution line. Spending time rewrapping pallets, and even more time unwrapping and disposing of unnecessary plastic, is quite simply inefficient.

Using less product leads to less roll changes and less disruption to production lines. By upgrading to a higher quality wrap, we estimate your team could do 2,056 fewer roll changes each year. And if each roll change takes 2 minutes, this results in a saving of 68 working hours.

 3: Make your warehouse team’s lives easier

Investing in high-performance pallet wrap minimises the number of wraps and roll changes that your team must do. Be reassured in the strength and stability of a high-quality alternative and say goodbye to frequent breakages and multiple re-wraps.

If you are wrapping more than 50 pallets by hand, consider pallet wrapping machinery to make your team’s lives even easier and optimise your production by speeding up the packaging process and minimising manual exertion.

 4: Prevent plastic waste

It is estimated that an alarming 140,000 tonnes of stretch wrap is used every year in the UK – most of which is sent to landfill.

If you are wrapping 400 pallets a day with 23-micron wrap, we estimate that you are producing 23 tonnes of plastic waste a year. But, by switching to a high-performance stretch wrap that goes further, your plastic usage could be cut by over half – to 10 tonnes a year.

In this time of climate crisis, it’s an easy decision. Make the sustainable choice to reduce plastic entering the waste stream – and the business choice to save money.

 5: Achieve your goals

High-performance pallet wrap ensures your product arrives safely and undamaged at its final destination. With its ability to reliably hit that point of strength that your product needs, high performance film helps reduce breakages, damages, and increased customers’ loyalty. You’re also helping to reduce the amount of plastic your own customer has to dispose of, thus helping them to lower their carbon footprint.

Through one simple switch to high-performance pallet wrap you can save money, reduce your use of plastic, improve your reputation for faultless delivery, and support your team. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Find out more about iWrap high-performance film here and if you would like to know more about how it works to reduce your plastic consumption and your environmental impact, get in touch using the form below.

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The hidden cost of pallet wrap

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The true cost of pallet wrap can easily slip by unnoticed in the everyday business of packaging operations. And these hidden costs can quickly add up. To understand the true cost of pallet wrap, take time to consider the amount your operation is spending on pallet wrap and associated machinery. Because one simple switch – from a standard film to a high-performance alternative, like iWrap – could save you up to 25% in costs and reduce your use of plastic by 40%.

Read on to learn more about these overlooked costs and how you can optimise your pallet wrapping process.

Cost of pallet wrap – cost per roll vs or cost per pallet?

How are you costing your pallet wrap? Is it on a cost per roll or a cost per pallet basis? The norm has been on a cost per roll basis – at first glance, this can look a transparent and easy way to buy. These also tend to be a lower quality film, yes lower in price but it comes with its challenges.

Cheaper pallet wrap can be highly susceptible to breaks and tears. In short, it is simply not as strong as high performance film – meaning that pallets wrapped in low quality film often require re-wrapping multiple times in their journey from packaging to end point.

People often buy low quality pallet wrap because they are attracted to its low cost-per-roll basis.  The true cost of pallet wrap to the business is found in the cost per pallet wrapped. If you’re spending more than 50p wrapping a standard pallet – there are significant cost savings to be had moving to a high performance film.

Even though it may be a more expensive initial cost, choosing a film that offers the strength you need means you only need to wrap a pallet once. High-performance film has the potential to revolutionise your operation with its long-term financial savings alone – not to mention the reduction in plastic waste and more.

How the Plastic Packaging Tax is effecting the cost of pallet wrap

Cost of pallet wrap

The hidden cost of pallet wrap

Another cost that you may need to account for is the Plastic Packaging Tax. Charged on plastic packaging that doesn’t contain 30% or more recycled materials at a rate of £200 per tonne, the tax will have far-reaching effects for anyone manufacturing or importing plastic packaging.

It is imperative that you account for the effect that this could have on your business – and the steps you can take to save money and plastic at the same time. Such as investing in high performance pallet wrap that can help to optimise your wrapping and packaging processes.

The impact of the Plastic Packaging Tax is an important one across the packaging and logistics industry. To help understand its implications and protect your business against hidden costs, download our free Plastic Packaging Tax eGuide.

If you’re currently purchasing pallet wrap for your business, you may well be experiencing a sharp increase in costs. This will be down to the PPT – so how can you reduce this new cost? The beauty of high performance film means you need less to despatch and ship your products. Using less plastic means less tax associated costs.

 The true cost of pallet wrap

At Acopia, we always look for a win-win-win solution. A win for your pocket, as high performance film stretches further and saves you money. A win for your team, as they will spend less time wrapping pallets. And a win for the planet, as less plastic is used in the first place.

If you’d like to find out more about high performance pallet wrap and how it works so you can use less plastic, just pop over an email using the form below

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What is the impact of plastic packaging on the environment?

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The impact of plastic packaging on the environment – we can no longer shy away from this, yet we continue to produce excessive plastic waste in the UK and across the globe. According to a recent study, more than 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic could enter the environment globally by 2040.1 Plus, researchers predict that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans, unless we change our behaviour. With such a pressing need to protect the environment, governments worldwide are looking at measures to significantly increase recycling and reuse and prevent further damage. And they’re looking closely at the effects of plastic packaging on the environment.

Here, in the UK, one such measure is the Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT), which takes effect from 1 April 2022. The tax aims to increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging by around 40%. That’s equal to carbon savings of nearly 200,000 tonnes in 2022 to 2023, based on current carbon factors. Our question is whether Plastic Packaging Tax will really reduce the impact of plastic packaging on the environment?

 Reducing the impact of plastic packaging on the environment

The impact of plastic packaging on the environment

The impact of plastic packaging on the environment

The impact on the environment is a stark reminder that there is no future in limited resources. To encourage more sustainable approaches to products and packaging, the new tax aims to deliver improvements in the way the UK manages waste plastic. In addition, it hopes to support changing behaviour in consumers to recycle and reuse products. As Ariadna Rodrigo, Zero Waste Europe, puts it, “Given the scale and urgency of the problem, a set of economic incentives to cut the production of new plastic while promoting reuse and recycling is urgently needed to stop plastic pollution at source.”[1]

On the surface, the PPT seems to make environmental sense – and also, financial sense. There is high public support for recyclable packaging communities: consumers and citizens all want to see increased social responsibility in their brands and products. A UK survey by INCPEN & WRAP on citizens’ attitudes & behaviours relating to food waste, packaging and plastic packaging highlighted how public concern over packaging has almost doubled.[2]

Our challenge is that to protect the environment, we need to use less – not more – plastic packaging. However, the use of recycled plastic in plastic packaging reduces the effectiveness of the plastic wrap, causing people to have to use more plastic packaging to secure each load. So while they might save on PPT, they’ll be paying more – and using more – plastic packaging. By packaging efficiently – and more responsibly – you can cut costs, and time, as well as showing your concern for the environment.

A more sustainable and eco-friendly packaging approach can boost your brand, products, and operations – and save you money.

For instance, at Acopia, we help our clients make informed decisions to choose eco-friendly and more sustainable plastic packaging, reducing the impact of plastic packaging on the environment which also matches organisations’ specific needs with packaging and process solutions.

A high-performance machine pallet wrap, like iWrap, is a sustainable choice.

Although using virgin plastic, it helps improve your sustainability, with benefits that include:

  1. A reduction in your plastic waste problem with 42.12% less waste plastic going to landfill
  2. A reduction in your cost spend on every pallet wrapped with 57 fewer pallets shipped per year and 3,696 more pallets wrapped per tonne of film
  3. A reduction in time wasted in re-wrapping pallets with 2,056 less roll changes per year

None of us can deny that the time is now, for businesses everywhere to exercise increased corporate social responsibility and move forward with renewable goals that match personal and public ambitions to protect and preserve our planet. It’s all about making choices – the right choices for everyone.

And one final note: updates continue to be added to the Plastic Packaging Tax and the government is still responding to queries on its many complexities. For instance, recent changes have been confirmed to the ‘PPT Statement’. So do keep an eye out for changes from HMRC here.

 

To help you prepare for what the tax will mean for you and how you can benefit, we have created a free eGuide: Is your business prepared for this new taxation?

 Download your FREE Plastic Packaging Tax eGuide here 

Or get in touch with us using the form below and let’s chat about how Acopia can help you make the best sustainable packaging and process choices that are right for your individual business.

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[1] https://zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/PlasticsTax_FINAL.pdf

[2] UK survey 2019 on citizens’ attitudes & behaviours relating to food waste, packaging and plastic packaging: Summary report template (wrap.org.uk)

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Can eco-friendly machine pallet wrap save you money?

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It all sounds a bit too good to be true doesn’t it? A new take on what most would see as packaging’s most maligned material – plastic machine pallet wrap. Huge amounts of it are used across the globe every day and we estimate that the UK alone uses over 150,000 tons of pallet wrap every year. It’s hard to imagine what that kind of volume looks like.  And how a product like this could possibly deliver sustainability on any level!

Pallet wrap has been with us one way or another for over 100 years.  As with anything, machine pallet wrap has been subject to development and has continued to evolve to where we are today. But where is that actually? Well, we’re at a stage where some of the pallet wrap being used today is a whole lot smarter, delivering real environmental as well as cost benefits. How’s that? Let’s find out!

Firstly, how can machine pallet wrap be eco-friendly?

Its eco-credentials go hand in hand with its cost-saving properties and it certainly isn’t for commonplace for pallet wrap to achieve these kinds of benefits. iWrap is a high-performance intelligent machine pallet wrap and truly a best in class product. The single-use plastic savings are unparalleled compared to any other pallet wrap on the market today. It’s these plastic savings that have really spoken volumes to brands such as IKEA, Waitrose and ASDA that are committed to reducing the amount of plastic they are using iWrap.

One client we are working with has seen game-changing benefits with 42.13% less plastic going to landfill as well as a reduction of  2,467.2 kgs of cardboard used each year. The graphic below shows everything iWrap was able to deliver for them.

Savings achieved with eco-friendly machine pallet wrap

Savings achieved with eco-friendly machine pallet wrap

 

All this from a simple product change!

Who would have thought this huge reduction in environmental impact could be delivered by a machine pallet wrap! With the Plastic Packaging Tax very much just around the corner now starting in April 2022, it’s important businesses realise and understand the scale of the issue and how this can and will affect them. With a levy of £200 per tonne on all plastic packaging, large users and going to be subject to a hefty tax bill.

The answer has to be to use less plastic. It makes sense financially as well as environmentally. There is also the possibility of exemption if a user can get their plastic packaging consumption to under 10 tonnes. We estimate that if you’re wrapping over 400 pallets a day using a 23-micron machine pallet wrap, you’ll be consuming 23 tonnes of waste plastic a year wrapping your pallets. 

So how could you bring that plastic usage down by over half to under just 10 tonnes? Using iWrap will deliver this staggering plastic reduction whilst still maintaining the same pallet stability, consistent pallet wrapping and damage-free deliveries to your customers – just as you have now, and in most cases better, with the much thicker 23-micron film.  And imagine how delighted your customers will be when receiving pallets from you with that kind of reduction of plastic on your deliveries! You get to deliver a cost-saving to them too!

On average, we see a reduction of 40% or more on the plastic used with iWrap

The video below shows the kind of plastic savings that can be achieved.

So what cost savings can machine pallet wrap deliver?

We saw in the graphic above an example of the types of savings gained from one of our customers using iWrap. Let’s look a little closer at these figures. Of course, the impressive one is the huge saving on the cost of the film alone at £36,120. That’s a staggering amount that any company would be overjoyed to save on their machine pallet wrap spend. The other cost savings are equally important and who wouldn’t appreciate gaining over a week back in time every year?! Imagine the impact of that in a busy warehouse – a 53 week year for the price of 52! Time savings and being able to free up resource is valuable for every business.

On average, we see a reduction of 25% on spend and in reality usually a lot more than this

The savings we have looked at here, combined with the ability to bring your machine pallet wrap usage to under 10 tonnes, avoiding the packaging tax are significant. Also, very large users can reduce their tax liability and end up paying a vastly reduced amount instead.

We did say it sounded too good to be true, didn’t we!

The easy way to understand the plastic and cost reductions for your own business is to get in touch with us for a plastic audit. It’s completely free and is a no-obligation meeting where we come to see your set-up and demo iWrap on your own pallet wrap machine.  You can see for yourself what this high-performance stretch wrap could deliver for your business. We’re always excited to have the opportunity to run these demos,  discovering savings for businesses nationwide. Our clients are pretty excited to see the results too!

So if this all sounds valuable to you, and if your company is committed to reducing environmental impact whilst looking at ways to cut costs – why not get in touch using the form below.

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What is the super deduction tax break?

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As the country continues its cautious bounce back after a crippling year for many businesses in 2020, we are seeing even more supporting initiatives from Government forming part of their stimulus package. This is one we’re particularly excited about as this really helps business to Build Back Better. This super deduction tax break is designed as a kick-start to the economy, supporting businesses to invest in much needed equipment at this crucial time. So, let’s take a look at what businesses can claim for.

What are the criteria for claiming the super deduction tax break?

The opportunity to claim for this tax break has been in place from 1 April this year and will run until  31 March 2023. This directly places support with companies investing in new plant machinery. This will enable businesses who buy these assets to claim:

  • a 130% super-deduction capital allowance on qualifying plant and machinery investments
  • a 50% first-year allowance for qualifying special rate assets

Any purchase arrangements already in progress before the 1st April will not be eligible.

What does this tax break mean in real terms for you?

This super-deduction means that for every pound spent on investing in new machinery, you will be able to cut your tax bill by 25p. So this really does represent an incredible saving for individual businesses as well as stimulating growth for the UK as a whole.

What equipment qualifies for the tax break?

The equipment will need to be unused – so not second hand. The list of machinery can be anything from working vehicles to office furniture. This list below shows the kind of equipment that can be claimed for, and is not exhaustive. Click here to see more about eligible equipment for the super deduction tax break fact sheet.

  • Solar panels
  • Computer equipment and servers
  • Tractors, lorries, vans
  • Ladders, drills, cranes
  • Office chairs and desks
  • Electric vehicle charge points
  • Refrigeration units
  • Compressors
  • Foundry equipment

What could these savings look like in practice?

This is an example of a super-deduction saving after spending £1 million on qualifying machinery:

• Spending £1m in this way means the company can deduct £1.3m
(130% of the initial investment) in computing its taxable profits

• Deducting £1.3m from taxable profits will save the company up to 19% of that – or
£247,000 – on its corporation tax bill.

Can I use the super deduction tax break for new packaging machines and equipment?

The answer is YES!

Packaging Machines to consider purchasing with the super deduction tax break

Packaging Machines to consider purchasing with the super deduction tax break

There has never been a better time to think about investing in packaging machinery with this opportunity. If you have been thinking of upgrading to a more automated approach or integrating packaging machinery where you can – now is definitely the time to do it. And now you will be able to afford to do more and make a real impact in your operation’s productivity.

Packaging machinery can bring real benefits to your operation by speeding up processes, making your business more efficient and competitive.  So your shopping list could include equipment that also allows you to consider eco-friendly options with paper tape machines, sustainable cardboard shredders like the Ecopax machines to create your own void fill as well as the range of Papertech machines that supports on demand paper void fill.

But where you’re really going to see increased benefits is with larger investments that can create a step-change in your operation with equipment such as pallet wrap machines. If you’ve been thinking ahead to April next year and the start of the new Plastic Packaging Tax, wondering how you were going to adapt your operation – then this is your big opportunity to meet this head on, still save money and reduce plastic consumption.

Buying a new pallet wrap machine with the super deduction tax break

Buying a new pallet wrap machine can be quite daunting. If you’ve been working with an older model for a while, you will be amazed at the advancements that have been made.  So we’ve put together a guide to the latest and some of the best pallet wrap machines you can find on the market today from entry level options all the way up to portable intelligent ‘robot’ style models!

 

iWrap S7 Robopac Robot pallet wrap machine, now available with the super deduction tax break

iWrap S7 Robopac Robot pallet wrap machine, now available with the super deduction tax break

Team up your new machine with a high performance film and you’re all set to:

> speed up your despatch operation

> reduce the amount of plastic you use and the amount of film you need to buy

> reduce your liability for the Plastic Tax due to 40% reduced plastic consumption

> build in safety with high performance film combined with latest machine advancements

> reduce your film costs by 25% on your cost per wrapped pallet

Unlocking future savings with the super tax deduction tax break

We think this really is too good to miss! Not only are you benefitting hugely from your initial investment, it will continue to pay dividends down the line as you start to reap the on-going accumulated savings.

There is a lot to consider and a good place to start is by asking your packaging supplier to come in, provide you with a complete overview of your operation, working with you to understand what type of machinery will serve you best. Performing a complete plastic audit will help you can see in real terms the plastic and financial savings you can make, on top of the tax break.

If you would like further information on how to get started, please drop us a message using the form below.

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Is Grip Film the best hand pallet wrap and why?

How to make sure you’re using the correct hand pallet wrap

With so many pallet wrap or stretch wrap solutions on the market now, it can be confusing to understand what products would be right for your situation and set up. Adding to this confusion is the impending Plastic Packaging tax and the seemingly expensive consequences of not making a smart decision quickly, as well as the noise and misinformation about recycled pallet wrap. So what’s the best course of action right now that gets you prepared and in a really good, informed place ahead of next April and hopefully saving some money too?

We would say it’s got a lot to do with good research, seeing products being demonstrated, such as Grip Film for example, in your own warehouse and gaining a better understanding of the best way to save on plastic as well as saving money. Sometimes it’s not immediately obvious. Intrigued? Let’s take a closer look.

Machine wrap or hand pallet wrap?

Just because you’re a high volume user of pallet wrap, it doesn’t necessarily mean that machine pallet wrap is the right choice for you. Yes, volume plays a part in it but what’s more important is how you’re set up and how your warehouse is organised. So as a rule of thumb, if your operation is spread over a large area with separate teams picking and building orders ready for despatch, then hand wrapping pallets it probably your best option. But it is always a good idea to take stock of how you’re currently prepping your despatches to see if there is a faster and in turn cheaper way to do this.  A trusted packaging supplier who has the experience and an understanding gained through years of visiting clients on-site may just have a different approach on how to best optimise your process. It’s worth asking them to come in and look to make sure you’re getting the very best from your resources.

Ask your packaging supplier for a demonstration

Sometimes it can be hard to imagine in real terms what a simple product swap can deliver and the increased yields that can be made. This could be benefits such as speeding up your palletising, spending less money per pallet wrapped and more significantly with the Plastic Packaging Tax just over a year away, a reduction in the plastic you use. In addition to that, there are also could be some very impressive Health and Safety gains to be had with the right product. Seeing such a product in action in your own warehouse really can help you to understand how your team can use it and allows you to get their buy-in too from an early stage if you want to change products. So ask for your supplier to come in for a demonstration.

We have our own very busy 50,000 square foot warehouse from which we despatch many thousands of pallets. We do use a pallet wrap machine but we also require the flexibility of building orders in separate areas around our warehouse depending on the products and the clients we are preparing orders for.  So we did the same, asked for demonstrations from our own suppliers so we could understand more about the latest product developments and see what could work better for us.

How we found the correct hand pallet wrap

The Demonstration

To understand how a pallet or stretch wrap can work for you, our clients,  and deliver all those advantages means we need to know how to best use these products ourselves. Speeding up the palletising process is obviously important to us to make sure our clients receive their deliveries on time for the least cost. The Grip Film System was demonstrated to us by wrapping like for like pallets in our own warehouse, comparing it to a standard hand pallet wrap. See the video below.

Our 4 Main Findings

The Applicator

The first thing that struck us was the look of the applicator itself. Completely different in appearance from other applicators, it looked impressive and felt good to hold due to its ergonomic design. It was incredibly lightweight, and despite it looking quite different, our warehouse team were keen to try it out!

The Speed

The speed of application was a real watershed moment, cutting nearly 30 seconds off the time taken to wrap a pallet compared to the standard pallet wrapping method. Imagine that time saving on every pallet you send out! There is quite a lot going on here that speeds this process up. There is the applicator itself that controls the film coming off the roll much more effectively which means the operative can wrap faster. But its design also means the operative can walk forwards around the pallet which again is so much faster, minimising any stooping at the base of the pallet.

The Safety

So not only is it faster, it becomes so much safer too. No more walking backwards around pallets. No more trips and falls waiting to happen. A massive reduction in RSI and back strain is a huge benefit for the operatives and in turn your business.

The Savings

Longer roll lengths, a guarantee of being able to use every single meter of the roll and superfast roll changes all contribute to making this a fast, time and money-saving system.  And as you can see from the videos, fewer revolutions around the pallet are needed meaning much less plastic is used – and that’s down to the film itself.

A thinner film but greater load stability? How does that work?

It doesn’t seem to make sense, does it? The answer to the greater stability lies in how the operative can really maximise the application process with the applicator and the pre-stretched film. The applicator makes it easy for effective necking and roping to really stabilise the load. In the video below, you can see the comparative film stretch test which shows the incredible strength obtained through pre-stretching the film before it goes on the roll. The typical micron thickness of a standard stretch hand pallet wrap is around 20 microns. Grip Film Superior and Premium films are just 6 and 9 microns respectively. And as we go to press, we have learned of another hand pallet wrap in the Grip Film portfolio, the Elite – which comes in at just 5 microns!

And The Grip Film advantage doesn’t stop there!

Grip Film Hand Pallet Wrap

Grip Film Hand Pallet Wrap

With the thinner film being used and less plastic use overall, this can only help you as we move towards the Plastic Packaging Tax. This ‘green tax’ is to dissuade the continued use of virgin plastic and to encourage the use of recycled plastic. Unfortunately, hand pallet wrap with recycled content does not exist and tentative production of this so far has seen the film produced much, much thicker so the user would end up using so much more plastic. It defeats the whole object. Using less, even if it is virgin plastic, is no doubt the better way to go. This will help you to reduce the impact of the tax as well as your impact on the environment. Looks like a win-win to us!

We’re really keen to pass on all our learnings from the Grip Film product demonstrations in our own warehouse to you. So if you like the sound of using less plastic, speeding up your palletising and spending less on every pallet you wrap – we’d love to show you in your own warehouse! Drop us a message in the form below.

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Making sense of pallet wrap. What’s the right pallet wrap for my business?

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With so many options on the market such as different pallet wrap film strengths and grades, hand and machine wrap options, blown or stretch film  – it can become pretty confusing.  You may also be looking for eco-friendly options with health and safety solutions as well as advice on how to be as efficient as possible with your pallet wrap.  This can have a huge impact on time and budget savings so there’s a lot at stake. So how can you really know which pallet wrap is the right one for your business? Let’s explore the options in detail.

Hand or machine pallet wrap?

This really comes down to the size of your business and what will be most cost effective, taking in consideration the trade off in staffing levels and labour time  versus mechanising this process. In a business where a low number of pallets are being wrapped each month, it makes sense to invest in a hand pallet wrap solution rather than the expense of machine wrap. But that’s not the end of the story! There are still plenty of opportunities to be had in terms of eco friendly options to reduce your single use plastic consumption as well as improving on health and safety in the warehouse. One such product is the Gripfilm system which boasts a whole range of features.

 

Making sense of pallet wrap

Making sense of pallet wrap

Slips and trips during the palletising process can be eliminated by this system as the user is able to work forwards around the pallet using the patented special dispenser. It promotes faster wrapping thus reducing the price per pallet in terms of reduced labour time. More than this though, Gripfilm has the capacity to reduce the cost per pallet even further as less film is needed. This is what is known in the industry as a high performance film when compared to ordinary stretch film as it much thinner. Using this could deliver a cost per pallet reduction of 40%. Something else to think about is if your operation is spread over a large area and you have lots of people picking and building orders for despatch, hand wrapping would be the preferred option. This will eliminate the travelling time to a machine wrapper and creating bottlenecks.

Time to automate?

If your business is wrapping and despatching over 15 pallets a day, it may be a good time to look at automation. There is lots of scope here to gain cost advantages based on the film and machinery used. How the machine is set up will have a huge impact on the amount of film used. The sweet spot is being able to use the least amount of film possible to stabilise the load. Getting the right machinery and the right film is critical and it may be a good time to call in some expert advice to get this optimally set up. There are many high performance films on the market which can deliver incredible results using minimal volume and therefore become eco-friendly options. Break through technologies in film materials allow for even further reduction of single use plastic consumption which improves your cost per pallet and green credentials.

Making sense of pallet wrap

To fully realise the true cost reducing potential of new pallet wrap materials and processes, why not get in touch for a completely free, no obligation review. We can provide a complete report on how and where you can save money from day 1.

 

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