Orbital Wrapping Machine Suppliers & Manufacturers

Orbital wrapping principle and product applications

An orbital wrapping machine (also called a horizontal stretch wrapper or ring wrapper) wraps stretch film or protective film around the length of a long product by passing the product through a rotating ring that carries the film roll — the ring orbits around the product's cross-section as the product moves horizontally through the machine, applying a continuous helical wrap of film. This is distinct from a pallet wrapper where the product rotates — in an orbital wrapper, the product moves linearly and the film ring rotates around it. Orbital wrapping is the standard for products that are too long to be wrapped on a conventional turntable pallet wrapper and that cannot be put into a box. Products commonly wrapped by orbital wrappers: aluminium extrusion profiles and aluminium sections — the largest single application category; PVC and plastic profiles (window frames, door frames, skirting boards, cable trunking); steel sections (angle iron, channel, flat bar, square section steel); timber (battens, planks, laminated beams, structural timber); PVC and HDPE pipes (individual pipes or pipe bundles); flat glass panels — with protective interleaving and edge protection; doors (timber doors, UPVC doors, fire doors); windows and glazed units; mattresses and upholstered furniture; carpet rolls and textile rolls; industrial hoses and cables. The film applied by an orbital wrapper: standard stretch film — for general protection and bundling; VCI (vapour corrosion inhibitor) stretch film — for metal products requiring corrosion protection during storage or transit; foam or bubble film — for scratch-sensitive products (aluminium, mirror glass); self-adhesive protective film — peelable surface protection for aluminium and steel profiles.

Machine configurations and sourcing

Orbital wrapping machines are available in a range of ring aperture sizes and automation levels to match the product cross-section and production throughput. Ring aperture: the internal diameter of the rotating ring must be larger than the cross-section of the product being wrapped; common ring apertures: 400–600mm for standard aluminium profiles and small pipes; 800–1200mm for large profiles, doors, and timber; 1500–2000mm for mattresses, wide glass panels, and large format products. Machine configurations: manual and semi-automatic orbital wrappers — the operator feeds the product through the ring manually or with a roller conveyor; the machine wraps automatically when triggered; suitable for small-scale operations with varied product lengths. Automatic inline orbital wrappers — the product is conveyed through the ring by powered roller conveyors; the machine wraps automatically as the product passes through; a controller sets wrap overlap percentage (how much each film revolution overlaps the previous one) and the number of wrap cycles for end reinforcement; suitable for production-line integration in profile and door manufacturing. End-of-line wrapping: orbital wrappers can be combined with cut-to-length bundling systems where multiple profiles or pipes are grouped into a bundle and then wrapped together. Key suppliers: Robopac (Italy), Lantech, Aetna Group, Fromm, Signode, and Chinese manufacturers (many producing for the aluminium extrusion and pipe industries in Asia). When sourcing, specify: product cross-section dimensions, product length range, weight per metre, film type, required wrap overlap percentage, required output (metres per minute or products per hour), and integration with upstream cut or processing line and downstream stacking or dispatch.

Frequently asked questions