As online retailing has changed the game for consumers, it’s made it more necessary for companies to make the right decisions with their packaging.

Even if you’re in the world of industrial manufacturing, deciding on the right way to wrap and store raw materials ensures a better final product. When you have the right strapping tool and materials to match, you’ll get the job done more efficiently.

Here is everything you need to know about strapping and materials for it.

The Basics On Strapping

There are all types of industrial strapping materials that you’ll find being used all over the place. It comes in a vast number of sizes and materials with a different application for each one. Since most industrial warehouses or manufacturing facilities have multiple needs, they’ll have a variety of strapping options on hand to cover any situation.

Steel strapping is perfect for sturdy materials. It’s excessive in the case where you have to deal with sensitive or easily damaged materials, so avoid it if fragility is an issue.

When you’re bundling heavy loads for shipping via truck or container, steel strapping keeps tons of material save and secure. If you need a high rate of break strength and resistance to splitting, steel strapping is the way to go.

Talk to the decisionmakers above you and on the facility floor to ensure that you’re making the right material decisions. You might need something with a little more elasticity or climate resistance. Steel strapping has the tendency to rust, can be heavy, or even too rigid.

It also adds weight to your load, so be sure that you’re making a decision that makes sense for you and your team.

All About Materials

There is a variety of steel strapping options that work for industrial applications. While most types will get the job done, using the right strapping ensures that your materials are secure, protected, and unharmed.

Stainless steel strapping helps if you’re going into a humid climate or going to be near a wet area.

Wet climates or extreme temperature changes lead to rust and corrosion so you need the right strapping for that. If you’ll be storing your materials outdoors or creating a permanent strap for outdoor signage or securing a clamp, this is the strapping for you.

If cost is an issue for you, stainless steel strapping might be out of your price range, making galvanized steel a better option. Galvanized steel is lower cost than stainless steel and still has a long life expectancy. Because it’s coated, you get a reliable performance that lasts longer than most other types of metal.

Regular duty steel strapping shouldn’t be overlooked, however. You can get low carbon steel for less than the cost of many other materials. It reinforces your packaging and keeps heavy products together while also allowing you to stack hefty products confidently.

While plastic strapping is more cost effective for some, it’s liable to breakages, has a lower weight capacity, and won’t be resistant to the elements like steel.

While it might take your line item costs up, knowing that you won’t have product damaged during shipping is worth the extra price of strapping.

What Strapping Entails

When you’re planning to add strapping to your industrial or manufacturing process, you need to know how and when to apply it. If you have heavy materials to get from one destination to another, steel strapping might be the perfect solution. However, you have to have all the right tools on hand to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Sharp blades aren’t enough to cut and apply steel strapping. You’ll need to have all the right tools on hand. Since steel strapping can be dangerous, sharp, and unwieldy, start by getting some heavy duty leather gloves for working with strapping.

Steel strapping is demanding on your hands and hard on your muscles, so prepare your team to have what they need. They should always wear full clothing to cover arms and legs with no open-toed shoes. A stray strap could cause lacerations if you’re not careful.

To start, have a strapping dispenser to feed strapping up and around a surface. Get yourself a pull to help create tension in your strapping to hold things tightly. You’ll also need buckles to secure your strapping once you’ve got it nice and tight.

Get Your Equipment Together

Strapping machines combined with all the right strapping ensure that you’re prepared to ensure that your loads are uniform. The integrity of your products and the quality they retain when they arrive is depending on how your strapping is run.

There are fully-automatic machines and semi-automatic machines to suit your needs, depending on your application or how much you need on a regular basis. There are smaller tabletop strapping machines and large tools that require a conveyor belt to run. Bailing, unitizing, carton closing, and bundling all require you to have the right tools on hand to get the job done.

Table-top machines are able to help you keep your product moving without worrying about jams. You can have them work with an automatic cut-off mechanism or a fully accessible strap path. If you’ve selected the right kind of strapping, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to getting the job done.

Make sure that your seals and ties are compatible with the strapping and machine that you’ve chosen. The better all of your equipment matches, the more efficiently your system will run.

The Right Strapping Tool Gets The Job Done

Searching high and low for the perfect strapping tool and material combination is going to take a while. Once you find it, it’s vital to train your team on how to make the most out of it.

To train your team the right way, check out our guide to common mistakes to avoid.