Handle It recently completed a custom manufacturing and installation job that supplied eight flagship pallet wrappers to an industrial wire manufacturer with different warehouse locations throughout the U.S.

The project required short lead times, competitive pricing, and custom fabrication on an already high-end pallet wrapping machine. Handle It also needed to source and deliver local support in each of the eight locations. Wrapping this project up was going to be no easy task.

Houston Wire & Cable

Houston Wire & Cable is one of the largest distributors of cable, electrical wire, and related services in the U.S. Founded in 1975, they have distribution facilities in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California, and two in Illinois.

They aim to provide their customers with a single-source solution, requiring a large selection of in-stock items—over 30,000 products, to be exact. To support the logistics and the unique challenges of shipping their products, Houston Wire & Cable needed a solution to ensure that their pallets and goods would safely reach their final destination.

The Challenge—A Manual and Wirey Situation

A single spool of electrical wire can weigh anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 pounds. Due to the cylindrical and irregular shape, it’s extremely challenging to stack, wrap, and safely ship them.

The warehouse workers at Houston Wire & Cable were still wrapping pallets manually—a tedious, dangerous, and wasteful process that was at the mercy of human hands. Over time, it became readily apparent to management that they required an automated solution—and as soon as possible.

Houston Wire & Cable began accepting bids for the construction, transportation, installation, and associated support of eight pallet wrapping machines. In addition to a very short lead time, the winning bidder needed to ship the machines LTL—a transportation method that many manufacturers don’t normally offer.

The Solution

The bidding process took just over two months, and competition amongst pallet wrapping manufacturers was fierce. Houston Wire & Cable ultimately selected Handle It and the Model 1100 with automatic film cut as the winning bid.

The reasons were clear—in addition to the many time and money-saving features of the Model 1100, Handle It could also deliver the machines faster than the competitors but still offer equivalent pricing.

To solve the problem of safely and securely wrapping irregular-sized pallet loads of heavy industrial wire spools, Handle It added custom controls to the Model 1100. Thanks to their strong relationship with the distributor Eastern Lift Truck, Handle It was also able to provide local and ongoing support for each of the eight machines.

Handle It met these challenges head-on, and within one month, all eight machines had been custom manufactured, delivered, and installed.

Results: On Time, On Budget, and Fully Automated

Thanks to the team at Handle It, each of the eight Houston Wire & Cable locations now has a fully automated pallet wrapping process—and they couldn’t be happier. The Model 1100 has transformed the way they ship their products and provided a wealth of valuable features.

The auto film attach, hot weld film seal, and auto film cut features allow for a seamless and fully automated wrapping process. The forklift driver can now load the pallet onto the turntable, push a button on the remote control, and the Model 1100 takes care of the rest.

The 250% film pre-stretch feature of the Model 1100 significantly helps reduce shrink wrap waste, while the full feature wrap cycle parameters meant that the machine could easily and safely wrap irregular-sized loads.

Ed Pengelly, Regional Distribution Center Manager at the Pennsylvania branch of Houston Wire & Cable, remarked:

“As you know Houston Wire & Cable purchased 8 (C1901601M) Stretch Wrap Machines along with the standard ramp, for our facilities throughout the country. HWC is very pleased with the quality construction, ease of assembly, and smooth operation of this equipment. None of our 8 facilities have encountered any issues whatsoever with the equipment since our installation. If you are looking for any type of equipment as well as excellent customer service, I would recommend the teams at Handle It and Eastern Lift. They will take care of anything you need.”

Pallet Wrapping Solutions from Handle It

Handle It offers a wide range of semi and fully automatic pallet wrapping machines that can help improve the efficiency of your packaging operations while lowering downtime and reducing costs.

Learn more about why logistics and shipping facilities choose Handle It pallet wrappers to safely and securely wrap their loads.

Contact one of our experts to learn more