Questions, Answered Straight

PET (polyester) strapping is the stronger of the two and the one to specify for heavy, rigid or high-value loads. It carries a much higher break strain, and — the property that actually matters in transit — it holds its tension. Polyester has very low creep, so a strap applied in Ibadan is still tight when the container is opened in Europe.

PP (polypropylene) strapping is lighter, more elastic and considerably cheaper. It suits light bundling, carton closing and short-haul work where the load will not settle much. Its weakness is creep: PP relaxes over time and under heat, so a strap that was tight on the loading bay can be slack a week later.

The practical rule: if the load is heavy, rigid, high-value, travelling far or being stored in the sun, use PET. If it is light, cartoned and moving locally, PP will do the job for less.

All PET strapping formats · PP strapping

Width is chosen against the load, not the machine. Wider strapping spreads the clamping force over a larger area and carries a higher break strain, so it is what you move to as loads get heavier or more likely to shift.

As a working guide: 9–12 mm suits light cartons, boxes and bundles; 12–16 mm is the general-purpose range for palletised goods and case strapping; and 16–19 mm and above is for heavy, dense or unstable loads, including the wide formats specified as a replacement for steel strapping.

Two constraints sit alongside the load. Your strapping tool or machine head is built for a specific width range, so the strap has to fit it. And the strap must be soft enough not to cut into the product — on compressible goods a wider, lower-tension strap often holds better than a narrow one pulled tight. Send us the load weight, the tool model and a photograph if you have one, and we will specify the width and thickness.

Ask our technical team · Compare strapping formats

It comes down to throughput, consistency and who is doing the work.

Manual strapping uses hand tensioners and sealers with pre-cut lengths or small coils. The equipment is inexpensive, it goes anywhere, and it handles odd shapes and one-off loads easily. The trade-off is that tension depends on the operator, so consistency drifts across a shift, and throughput is limited.

Machine strapping feeds from a large coil through a semi-automatic or fully automatic head. Tension is set on a dial and repeated identically on every pack, cycle times are a fraction of manual, and the strap itself is cheaper per metre in machine-grade coils. It needs capital equipment and a consistent pack size to be worth it.

Roughly: below about 50 packs a day, manual is usually the right answer. Above a few hundred, machine strapping pays for itself quickly. The same logic applies to pallet wrap — hand film below about twenty pallets a day, machine film above it.

Pre-cut PET strapping · Machine-grade PET rolls

Minimum order quantity depends on whether you are ordering a standard specification or a custom one.

Standard specifications — the widths, gauges and colours we produce routinely — are available in relatively small quantities, typically from a single pallet.

Custom specifications carry a higher minimum, because a bespoke width, gauge, colour or core size requires a dedicated production run. Coloured film in a non-standard tint and printed shrink film both fall into this category.

Rather than quote a number that may not apply to your specification, tell us what you need and we will confirm the exact MOQ with the quotation. Samples are available in advance of any order.

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Yes. We manufacture in Ibadan, Oyo State, and supply both the Nigerian market and export customers.

Export orders are container-loaded and export-packed — rolls and coils are wrapped, palletised and secured for sea freight, with the packing configuration built around the container rather than around local delivery.

Shipping documentation, technical datasheets and compliance declarations are issued with the shipment. Tell us the destination port or delivery address, the volume and the timeline, and we will quote on the incoterms you work to.

Discuss an export order · About our operation

Yes. Stretch film is available in black, white, blue, green and red as standard, and shrink film and strapping are produced in a range of colours including the green, black, white and blue that are standard across the strapping formats.

Bespoke tints are matched to order volume, because a custom colour requires a dedicated production run and a masterbatch match. Pigment is added through the melt rather than coated on, so the colour is uniform through the film and will not rub off onto your goods.

Colour is usually specified for one of three reasons: opacity for load security, colour coding for route or batch sorting, or brand consistency across a distribution fleet. Tell us which of those you are solving for — it changes what we recommend.

Coloured stretch film

Standard specifications held in production are the quickest — usually a matter of days from order confirmation, subject to current stock.

Custom specifications are scheduled into the production plan, so the lead time depends on the order size and the current loading of the line. Export orders add sea freight time on top of production.

We confirm a firm lead time on every quotation rather than working to a published figure, because the honest answer depends on the specification and the quantity. If you have a fixed delivery date to hit, say so when you enquire and we will tell you straight away whether it is achievable.

Ask about a specific date

Yes, and we would rather you did. Sample rolls and coils are available across the range, and we recommend proving any new specification on your own line before committing to a bulk order.

A sample tells you things a datasheet cannot: whether the film runs at your carriage settings without breaking, whether the strap feeds cleanly through your tool, whether the seal holds on your pack at your tunnel temperature.

Tell us the product, the width and gauge you are considering, and the equipment you will run it on. If you are not sure what to ask for, describe the load and we will pick the specification to sample.

Request a sample · Browse the range