Bundling Machine Suppliers & Manufacturers

Bundling methods: shrink, tray+shrink, and stretch

Bundling machines group multiple primary-packed units (bottles, cans, cartons, pouches) into a multipack held together by film — a retail multipack or wholesale club pack. The main bundling methods are: shrink bundling (film only, trayless) — primary packs are grouped and wrapped in a shrink film tube or sleeve; the film is sealed around the group by a heat sealer (L-bar sealer or longitudinal seal); the wrapped group passes through a heat shrink tunnel which shrinks the film tightly around the pack group; the result is a film-only multipack with no base tray; this is the standard for PET water bottles (6-pack, 12-pack), beverage cans, and glass jars. Tray + shrink bundling — a corrugated or paperboard tray (a shallow open tray) is erected under the product group; the tray + product group is then shrink-wrapped in the same way as a trayless bundle; the tray provides base stability and a surface for barcode labels and branding; common for canned goods, heavy bottles (glass, HDPE), and any product group that would be unstable or difficult to handle without a base tray. Stretch bundling — a stretch film is wrapped around a group of products, holding them together without heat; used for heavier or heat-sensitive products; not as common as shrink bundling for retail multipacks. For grocery and beverage production, the shrink bundler + shrink tunnel is the standard secondary packaging for bottled water, carbonated soft drinks, fruit juice, cooking oil in PET bottles, and canned beverages. The tray + shrink format is used for canned food retail multipacks (6-pack or 12-pack canned vegetables, canned fish) and glass bottle multipacks.

Machine configurations and sourcing

Bundling machines for shrink multipacks consist of two main sections: the grouping and wrapping section, and the shrink tunnel. Grouping and wrapping: products are collated into the target count and layout (e.g. 2×3 for a 6-pack, 2×6 for a 12-pack); the collated group is fed into the film wrapping unit; a longitudinal (sleeve) sealer wraps the shrink film tube around the group, or an L-bar sealer cuts and seals a cut-off section of film around each group; the wrapped group exits to the shrink tunnel. Shrink tunnel: the film-wrapped group passes through a heated tunnel; hot air (or occasionally steam) shrinks the film uniformly around the product group; the tunnel temperature and conveyor speed must be matched to the specific shrink film type and film gauge. Shrink films for bundling: polyolefin (POF) shrink film — the most common food-safe shrink film for retail multipacks; high clarity, low-temperature shrink, and food-grade certified; PVC shrink film — lower cost, used for industrial bundling; less preferred for food due to regulatory trends; PE shrink film — for heavy-duty bundling of large packs (water bottles, beverages); lower clarity but higher strength. Output speed: for manual or semi-automatic bundlers at small-scale operations: 5–20 packs per minute; for fully automatic bundlers integrated into a beverage line: 20–80+ packs per minute. For high-speed water and carbonated soft drink production: 100–150+ packs per minute on high-output machines. Key bundling machine suppliers: Krones, KHS, OCME, SMI Group (Italy), Cermex, Kallfass (Germany), and Chinese manufacturers. When sourcing, specify: product type and dimensions, multipack count and layout, required output speed, shrink film type, tray requirement, and integration with upstream filling line and downstream case packer.

Frequently asked questions