When it comes to wrapping products in film simply to provide protection or to secure a collation of items, a number of options are available but for retail applications where shelf appeal is paramount the preferred choice for wrapping cartons and other uniform objects is an end fold overwrap.

As the challenges of the global economy increase the pressure to save money at all stages of the production and packaging process increases

Overwrapping machines have long been referred to as cellophane wrappers, cello wrappers or simply box wrappers. The overwrap itself has been known as a cello wrap. This terminology has its roots in the 1950s when all wrapping was with the wood pulp derived product call cellophane

A demonstration of the Evo-Fold wrapper from Marden Edwards at the PPMA Show 2008 has led to an order from Scottish confectioners Thomas Tunnock to wrap its tea cake products

With a greater emphasis on environmental sustainability, bio-degradability and cost reduction there is a greater focus being placed on wrapping products with paper.

One of the complaints regarding overwrapping when compared to shrinkwrapping has been the need to use a precise width of film. Shrinkwrapping, using large amounts of heat energy to shrink film around a product, has always been able to cope with oversize film and shrink to the correct size.

Marden Edwards Petri has recently supplied a WR200s high speed wrapping machine for a customer who manufactures confectionery products packed into flip top boxes.

Major cereal manufacturers are consistently choosing overwrapping as the preferred method to bundle and wrap their single portion products. Often accused of over packaging and of using too much packaging material, overwrapping does in fact provide an economic, high quality and environmentally friendly way of producing a retail multipack.

Many of the major, and minor, producers of sticky memo pads have used Marden Edwards equipment, both for the individual pad and for the subsequent collations.

Having already made inroads into the French cosmetics and toiletries industries with the TM85 trailing edge overwrapper, Marden Edwards has launched the TM100 to produce the same excellent wrap quality on a greater range of carton sizes.