Stretch hood packaging presents opportunity for extruders and retailers

ExxonMobil and a packaging machinery supplier are working together to bring stretch hood packaging to palletized merchandise in North America. Using ExxonMobil’s Nexxstar resin structures, the stretch hood film offers cost benefits, superior toughness and exceptional optical properties for “end-of-the-line” packaging applications.<br>
Potential applications include replacing corrugated board for protecting appliances during shipping, and replacing other pallet wraps for palletized merchandise displayed in retail settings, such as pallets of bagged garden supplies or pallets of dry goods in “big box” stores.<br>
Stretch hood packaging is stretched and then pulled down over the load by a stretch hood machine, like pulling a sock onto your foot. “It offers five-sided protection,” explains Per Lachenmeier, president of packaging machinery supplier Lachenmeier. “Existing films don’t have good optics for this type of application, and the way they hold the load is not good enough.”<br>
The advanced co-extrusion packaging solution is effective for a myriad of load types — even traditionally unstable loads — such as appliances; beverages and other bottled goods; building materials including bricks and cement; chemicals and polymers; and foods and consumer products.<br>
According to ExxonMobil and Lachenmeier, Nexxstar stretch hood solutions can lower operating costs by as much as 30% through downgauging; by providing better puncture and tear resistance that leads to less product damage; and by improving clarity, which enables easier reading of bar codes and permits product branding without additional labels.<br>
ExxonMobil operates in Canada as Imperial Oil.