Machine applied or manual strapping: Which is right for my business?

When it comes to choosing your strapping material, there are three main types to choose from – Steel, Polypropylene, and Polyester. Each have their own pros and cons, and what’s best for your business will highly depend on your load types, weight and size (we explore the differences in our recent strapping materials comparison blog).

Whilst your chosen strapping material plays a huge part in the effectiveness of your packaging process, how you apply your strapping will heavily influence the efficiency of your entire operation.

So, with that said, here’s all you need to know about your strapping application choices.

Your strapping application choices

The application of strapping can be achieved via three methods:

1. With a Strapping Machine,
2. Using a strapping tool;
3. Manually with tensioners, cutters, or combination tools.

Let’s break down the options in further detail to help you decide which is best for your application.

Strapping machines

Strapping machines are electrically powered and use strapping to create a consistent, secure seal. They are used to save time, energy and materials over typical packaging processes and do so without the need of manual strapping tools. They’re available in fully or semi-automatic variants:

• Fully automatic strapping machines – These are the quickest and simplest strapping solution to use once set up. When the item is placed in the correct position detailed by the machine, a push of a button, will automatically strap the package in seconds.
• Semi-automatic strapping machines – Semi-automatic machines require a little more involvement from the operator. Although still a simple operation, the process takes slightly longer than using a fully automatic strapping machine. You’ll need to feed the strap over the top of the item and into the other side where it’s fed back into the machine.