How to start a stretch film rewinding business

What a rewinding business does

Film producers sell stretch film on jumbo rolls: large master rolls that end users cannot handle. A rewinding business sits between the producer and the user. It buys jumbo rolls, rewinds them into hand rolls, machine rolls, pre-stretched, coreless or slit rolls, and sells them in the lengths, weights and brands its customers want. This is also known as private label stretch film production: the business can sell the same film under its own brand or under its customer's brand and label.

The value it adds is the right format, at the right time: a producer sells a few standard jumbo rolls, while a packaging wholesaler, a factory or a logistics centre wants a specific roll, often at short notice. See what a stretch film rewinding machine is.

1. Start from your market

Decide what you will sell before you decide anything else:

• Hand rolls: usually 50 cm wide, about 2–3 kg and 200–300 m long, for warehouses, shops and small producers.
• Consumer rolls: narrower and shorter rolls for moving, storage and household use.
• Machine rolls: longer, heavier rolls that must fit your customers' pallet wrapping machines.
• Special rolls: pre-stretched, coreless, slit or coloured rolls, which help you stand out.

Talk to your first customers early: which widths, lengths, thicknesses and core sizes they buy, how many rolls a month, and what they pay. Buyers who know the trade compare offers by the price per kilogram of net film, so learn to calculate roll length and weight.

2. Secure your materials

• Jumbo rolls: work with at least two suppliers so that one late delivery does not stop production, and buy to a written specification. See how to choose jumbo rolls.
• Cores: paper cores (usually 38, 50 or 76 mm inner diameter) are bought from a core supplier, already cut to the width of your rolls. For slit rolls you need cores in each narrow width. Coreless rolls need no cores at all.
• Packaging: boxes or cartons, labels and pallets for shipping your finished rolls.

3. Choose the machine

The rolls you sell decide the machine. The step-by-step guide is in how to choose a stretch film rewinding machine; in short:

All Öncümak rewinders are fully automatic, and one operator can run two machines at the same time. See semi-automatic vs fully automatic rewinders for why that matters for your costs.

4. Space, power and people

• Power: a 400 V, 50 Hz three-phase supply.
• Space: room for the machine and its operator, jumbo roll storage, finished-goods storage and a packing area, with a clear route for a pallet truck or forklift.
• Storage conditions: film makers typically recommend storing stretch film indoors, out of direct sunlight, at about 10–30 °C. Film that is too cold or too warm behaves differently on the machine and on the pallet.
• People: operators who load jumbo rolls and cores, take off and pack finished rolls and check quality. Öncümak installs the machine at your site on request and trains your operators.

5. Build in quality from day one

• Length: the machine's length counter sets every roll to the metre; check it regularly.
• Weight: weigh sample rolls, subtract the core and compare with the length, width and thickness on your label. The formula is in roll length and weight.
• Edges and winding: finished rolls should have clean, even edges and keep their shape.
• Honest labels: a roll that is shorter or thinner than stated loses a customer quickly.

6. Work out the numbers

List every cost before you set a price:

• jumbo rolls (per kilogram), cores and packaging;
• labour and energy;
• film waste at start-up and roll changes;
• machine investment, maintenance and spare parts;
• storage and delivery.

Then estimate how much you can produce. How much a stretch film rewinding machine produces gives theoretical hourly and monthly output for each Öncümak model and explains what makes real output higher or lower.

7. Check the packaging rules

Selling packaging comes with obligations. In Türkiye, companies that place packaging on the market register in the Packaging Information System under the Packaging Waste Control Regulation; in the EU, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation applies. See what the rules say, and check the details with an advisor.