When to move to an automatic honeycomb paper dispenser

A packer who wraps 20 parcels a day does not need a machine. A packer who wraps all day, every day, starts to feel it in the wrist, and the length of each pull starts to drift.

An automatic honeycomb paper dispenser feeds the paper, stretches it open and usually cuts a preset length at the press of a button or a foot pedal. It makes sense when one station wraps for most of the shift, with products of similar size, and the time or the paper it saves clearly covers the cost of the machine, its servicing and its downtime. Below that, a good manual dispenser with an adjustable brake does the job well.

I should be clear about where we stand. We sell a table-top manual dispenser with a tension knob, and we do not sell automatic machines. So I have no machine to push here, only rolls that have to run well in whatever you choose.

What changes when you automate?

Three things change.

Speed is only one of them, and in my view often not the most important one.

1. Length becomes consistent. A preset length means the 10th parcel and the 400th parcel get the same amount of paper. With hand pulling, the length depends on the packer, the hour and the mood.
2. Opening becomes consistent. The machine stretches the paper at a controlled speed, so the cells open the same way on every pull. A tired hand jerks, and a jerk tears.
3. The packer's work changes. Instead of pulling and tearing several hundred times a shift, the packer presses a pedal and handles the product with both hands.

Our guide to manual honeycomb dispensers explains brakes, set-up and jams. This post is only about the decision to move up from one.

How do you know you have outgrown a manual dispenser?

Look at your own packing room before you look at any brochure.

I would score each of these signs with the packing supervisor, not alone in an office.

If most of your answers sit in the right-hand column, a better manual set-up will give you more for less money. Set the brake properly, put the dispenser on the pulling side, and keep rolls near waist height.

A worked example with round numbers

Say a homeware brand ships 400 orders a day from one wrapping station. This is an example, not a real customer, and every number below is an assumption for you to replace with your own.

1. With a stopwatch, the team times 20 manual wraps and finds that pulling and tearing the paper takes about 8 seconds per order.
2. A machine on trial does the same in about 4 seconds, because the packer only presses a pedal.
3. The saving is 4 seconds x 400 orders, which is 1,600 seconds, or about 27 minutes a day.
4. The team also weighs the paper used. Manual packers averaged 1.8 m per order, and the machine, with a preset length, gives 1.5 m.
5. That is 0.3 m x 400 orders, or 120 m of expanded wrap saved a day. At about 400 m of wrap from a 250 m flat roll, that is close to a third of a roll every working day.

Now put your own labour cost and roll price against those two savings, and compare them with the machine's price, servicing and expected life. If the payback takes many years, stay manual. If it takes months, the machine is probably worth a proper trial.

Notice that in this example the paper saving matters as much as the time saving.

This is an old rule of the packaging trade, and I believe it completely: the machine is bought once, but the consumable is bought every month, so a small saving per order adds up over 12 months.

Run a two-week trial before you buy

Most machine sellers will lend or rent a unit for a trial if you ask. I would never buy one on a demonstration video alone.

1. Measure one normal week first: orders packed, rolls used, damage claims and the time the station spends wrapping.
2. Install the machine at one station only, with the same packers and the same product mix.
3. Set preset lengths per product group, starting from your current average and coming down in small steps.
4. Count rolls, orders and damage again for two full weeks.
5. Ask the packers what they think. If they hate it, they will find ways round it.

Two weeks covers the first few days of learning and at least one busy day. Our guide to honeycomb paper consumption shows how to turn rolls used into metres per order, so the before and after figures are fair.

What should you ask the machine seller?

Ask for written answers.

A spoken "yes, it takes all rolls" is not a specification. A written figure is something you can hold the seller to if the first roll does not fit.

1. The maximum roll width, the maximum roll diameter and the core size the machine takes.
2. The range of paper weights, in GSM, that it opens properly. Heavier paper needs more force to open.
3. How lengths are set, and how many presets it stores.
4. How the paper is cut: an automatic blade, a serrated edge or a hand tear.
5. The power supply. Machines built for 110 V and 230 V are not interchangeable.
6. Which parts wear out, how often, and whether spares and service are available in your country.
7. What happens when it jams, and how long it takes a packer to clear it.

Then send the roll part of that list to your paper supplier. If it comes to us, we will check our roll widths, diameters and cores against it before you order, so the first pallet fits the machine on day one. Our product page lists the standard widths, from 100 mm to 500 mm, and 12, 15 and 20 inch for US buyers.

The downsides

I will say this plainly. A machine is one more thing that can stop.

When a manual dispenser fails, a packer can hold the roll on a rod and carry on. When an automatic one fails on a sale day, that station stops until someone clears the fault or fits a part. Keep a manual dispenser under the bench as a spare.

Machines can also hide waste. If the preset length is 2 m and the product needs 1.4 m, the extra 0.6 m goes into every single order, quietly, all year. Check the presets every month and after every new product launch.

And a machine cannot fix weak paper. If the paper tears in the machine, the cause is often the grade, the storage or a worn cutting die, and our guide to storage and humidity covers the storage part. I would rather you test our rolls on the machine during the trial than discover a problem after a full container has arrived.

Before you order a machine

If you are planning a trial, tell us the machine's roll specification and the GSM you plan to use. Write to us through the contact page and we will send sample rolls cut to fit, so you test the machine and the paper together.