Oregon Powder Coating, a provider of sand blasting and powder coating services located in Tangent, Ore., was facing a costly problem with finished products getting damaged on their way to customers. Each pallet load averages $2,000 worth of parts, and one in 600 orders was being rejected each month because of manual pallet wrapping failures.

“Sometimes, the hand wrapping was too tight and would allow the film to tear; other times, the wrap wasn’t tight enough and would allow the parts to slide about,” said Steve Lewis, owner. “We need to keep the parts secure in place to ensure they arrive safely in the same pristine condition as when they left the building.”

The company purchased a TAB Wrapper Tornado orbital wrapping machine from TAB Industries. It secures the powder-coated parts to the pallet by wrapping stretch wrap 360 degrees around and under the pallet, creating a sturdy, unitized pallet load that keeps the product in place whether in transit, on a lift truck, or stored in a warehouse.

A single forklift driver operates the machine by remote control without leaving the seat, while the pallet load stays raised on the forks. The wireless process turns a two- or three-person job into a simple, one-person job. Lewis estimates the new wrapper, by cutting the wrapping process from five minutes or more to one minute or less, saves 1-1/2 hours per day per person.

Not one of the thousands of pallet loads wrapped on the automated system has been returned to Oregon Powder Coating for product damage, and that has saved the company about $24,000 in direct costs annually while also eliminating the rework, overtime, and redelivery needed to replace scratched, scuffed, or otherwise damaged orders.

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