How to stretch wrap a pallet: step by step, grams of film and cost per pallet

Weigh a roll of stretch film before wrapping and weigh it again afterward. In a comparison by a British film supplier, with no published date, that difference runs from 135 to 282 grams per pallet by machine and from 67 to 308 grams by hand (Pallet Wrap Costs Un-Wrapped). If your plant has no number of its own, how to stretch wrap a pallet depends on who is holding the roll on each shift.

How to stretch wrap a pallet, step by step

The sequence comes from the guides by Lantech (December 30, 2025) and Macfarlane Packaging (undated). Both companies sell film or stretch wrappers, so take their figures as a starting point.

1. Check the stack before you take out the roll. Product that overhangs the pallet is at high risk of damage (Lantech, 2019). A loose stack gets corrected before wrapping, with the pallet and stacking guide and the patterns for palletizing boxes.
2. Tie the film to the pallet. By hand, fix it low down. By machine, Lantech (2026) proposes forming a cable with the bottom few inches of film and driving it just below the top deck boards: it locks load to pallet and stays clear of the forklift forks.
3. Apply 2 to 3 wraps at the base (Lantech, 2025).
4. Work up with about 50% overlap (Lantech, 2025); Macfarlane accepts 30 to 50%. By hand, walk about 300 mm from the pallet and keep the tension even.
5. Reinforce the top layer with a few extra wraps (Macfarlane). Lantech suggests returning to the base to reinforce the bottom layers.
6. Finish with no tails. Cut about 30 cm from the corner and tie off the end or press it against the load (Macfarlane). A long tail can snag and topple the load (Lantech, 2026).
7. Write the recipe for each SKU: wraps at the base, body and top. Lantech advises against a generic pattern for every product (March 16, 2026).

To the eye, every pallet looks fine. Lantech measures containment force, which it defines as the total pressure of all the layers and calculates by multiplying wrap force by film layers (2026). It is taken at the top, middle and bottom. Its table of recommended values sits behind a form and we found no public figure for loads in Mexico: your target has to come from your own shipments and rejections.

How many grams of stretch film does a pallet take?

These are the cases in the comparison. Each row sets what the customer was using against the film that supplier sold, so read them as a range of what is possible. We found no figure measured in Mexico (Target Robotics search, November 2026).

We count the last row as manual because the slide talks about a dispenser and mentions no machine. If you buy by gauge, 80 gauge is about 20 microns.

Pre-stretch explains a good part of that difference. At 100%, 6,000 feet of film becomes 12,000; at 200%, 18,000; and most companies run between 200 and 250% (Lantech, 2018). The Food Tech (undated), in a piece with data from Beumer, a manufacturer of end of line equipment, says that above 250% the added yield is small.

Holding the load is a separate matter. A Cal Poly thesis (Cernokus, 2012) found no correlation between the pre-stretch percentage and the change in film force. More pre-stretch gets you more meters per roll, and holding force has to be checked on its own.

How much does it cost to stretch wrap a pallet in Mexico?

On Cosmos, a Mexican industrial directory, Empaque en Red lists film (playo, in Mexican plants) at MXN 41 per kilo on sale and MXN 45 at list, plus IVA, Mexico’s value added tax, with a minimum of a full pallet. In another listing, Bolsof publishes MXN 70 per kilo. Both prices were checked on November 3, 2026. Crossed with the grams in the comparison they give this table, which is a Target Robotics calculation with assumptions: it leaves out IVA, labor and scrap.

Scale it up to volume. With 60,000 pallets a year on a 3-shift line, 250 grams and MXN 55 per kilo, film costs MXN 13.75 per pallet and MXN 825,000 a year (Target Robotics calculation with those assumptions). In that scenario, every 10 grams less per pallet is worth MXN 33,000 a year. You can move the grams per pallet this week, before buying any equipment.

If you do not yet know how many boxes and what height you will be wrapping, the cases per pallet calculator gives you a starting point.

Is the load falling or the film tearing?

On gauge, Lantech gives an example: 10 pounds of containment can come from thin film and many layers, or from thick film and few (2018). The decision comes from comparing grams and cycle time on your load.

What options are there besides wrapping by hand?

We explain how each machine fits after the palletizer in end of line packaging.

Can hot melt adhesive replace stretch film?

The figures below are published by the adhesive suppliers. None was measured in Mexico and we found no independent study (Target Robotics search, November 2026).

• Nordson: 58% less film at Laru GmbH, with two short beads per box (January 24, 2019).
• Robatech: 75% less at Swissmill, with adhesive on every layer except the last (June 29, 2021). It also reports at least 1.5 fewer hours a day spent moving pallets, at 25 to 30 pallets a day.
• Henkel: 90% less film and up to 80% lower material cost, in tests with no published methodology (sponsored content, July 1, 2023). In that piece, a Korean beverage producer calculates that film costs four times what adhesive does per pallet.

The same cases carry their warnings. Swissmill received a complaint about collapsed boxes in the bottom layer, and since then it wraps pallets going by rail to half height. Premium Waters, in Wisconsin, tried hot melt on packs in shrink film: it tore the film and left residue, and the company moved to a water-based adhesive (Packaging World, February 5, 2014). Adhesive depends on your packaging and your route: test it first.

Run the math with the same 60,000-pallet line. If adhesive removed 50% of the film and cost US$0.15 to US$0.25 per pallet, at 18.5 pesos to the dollar, the net saving would be MXN 2.25 to MXN 4.10 per pallet, or MXN 135,000 to MXN 246,000 a year. It is a Target Robotics calculation with assumptions: US$0.15 is the Premium Waters figure, with water-based adhesive; US$0.25 is our assumption, because we found no published hot melt consumption per pallet; and the math leaves out equipment, maintenance and cleaning.

For transport testing, EUMOS 40509 is the European reference: it accelerates the pallet on a bench and evaluates how much it deforms (Lansmont, checked November 3, 2026). Polifilm runs it at 0.5 g and up to 0.8 g. Smithers (June 2023) points out that North America has no formal equivalent, although some designers use the ISTA horizontal impact test. Swissmill started with something simpler: it applied adhesive with a hand applicator and let its logistics partners test the pallets.

What to measure on your line this week

Weigh the roll before and after on 10 pallets of each SKU, by shift. Count the wraps at the base, body and top, and write them next to the weight. If you have a containment tool, measure at three heights; if you do not, start by keeping a count of pallets rejected or reworked after transport.

With that sheet you can ask for something specific. From the film supplier, a test with your load and grams per pallet. From the stretch wrapper or adhesive supplier, the same grams measured with your product and on your route. If the palletizer is part of the same purchase, the case palletizer robot gets quoted with that same pallet data.