The Challenge

A mid-volume e-commerce fulfillment center near Graz, Austria was hand-wrapping online orders in shrink film and finishing with heat guns. With around 800 parcels per day, two packers spent most of their shifts on repetitive wrapping instead of quality checks and value-added tasks.

The manual method took about 48 seconds per parcel and produced inconsistent results. Film waste was high, rework on poorly shrunk packs averaged 5%, and overtime costs spiked during peak weeks. Management needed a compact automated solution that would standardize quality and free at least one operator.

Manual Process

Operators pre-cut film from rolls, wrapped each parcel by hand, and then shrank it with handheld heat guns. Cycle time varied by operator skill and product size.

Before Automation:

• Daily volume: 800 units/day
• Cycle time per unit: 48 seconds
• Total daily time: 800 × 48 s = 38,400 s ≈ 640 minutes (10.7 hours/day)
• Labor cost: 10.7 h × €25/h ≈ €267/day
• Rework/issues: ~5% of packs (40 units/day) needing rewrap due to loose or uneven shrink

This required effectively 1.3 FTE dedicated to shrinking, often rounded up to two people during rush hours to avoid shipping delays.

Automated Solution

The company installed the Heat Shrink Machine F7060, integrating sealing and shrinking in one compact frame. It was set up in-line with order picking so one operator could load products continuously.

After Installing Heat Shrink Machine F7060:

• Machine operates at 60% of maximum capacity for reliability
• New cycle time: 18 seconds per unit (including loading/unloading)
• Total daily time: 800 × 18 s = 14,400 s = 240 minutes (4.0 hours/day)
• Labor cost: 4.0 h × €25/h = €100/day (rounded with supervision to €108/day)
• Quality improvement: rework reduced from 5% to 1% (from 40 to 8 units/day)

The F7060 now covers all shrink-wrapped SKUs with one part-time operator at the station. The remaining time from the original staff is used for packing customization and quality control.

ROI Calculation

Investment:
Machine price: €2,199
Daily labor savings: Before €267/day − After €108/day ≈ €159/day (rounded to €160/day)
Monthly savings (22 working days): €160/day × 22 days = €3,520/month
Payback period: €2,199 ÷ €160/day ≈ 13.7 days (under 1 month)

Even if we factor in conservative ramp-up, training, and occasional downtime and assume only €350/month net savings allocated to ROI, the payback is still:
€2,199 ÷ €350/month ≈ 6.3 months (under 7 months)

Conclusion

By switching from manual hand-wrapping and heat guns to the Heat Shrink Machine F7060, the Austrian e-commerce center cut per-pack time by around 60% and reduced daily labor from 10.7 hours to 4.0 hours. Standardized shrink quality lowered rework from 5% to 1%, while freeing one full operator for higher-value work.

“The F7060 freed up the equivalent of one full-time packer and cut our shrink wrapping time from 10.7 hours to about 4 hours per day. With roughly €160 in daily labor savings and rework dropping from 5% to 1%, we recovered our investment in well under 7 months and gained much more consistent packaging quality.” — Markus Leitner, Operations Manager, Styriapack E-commerce/Graz, Austria