Packaging Automation & End-of-Line Systems calculator
Shrink Wrap Film Cost Calculator
Budget film for accepted packs using repeat length, planned production yield and separate setup waste. Compare consumed film value with the cost of purchasing whole usable rolls.
What this calculator does
- Estimate expected film consumption and whole-roll purchase cost for a shrink-wrap run.
Formula used
- Required film = good packs × repeat mm ÷ (10 × yield %) + setup metres
- Rolls to purchase = required film ÷ usable roll length, rounded up
- Consumed value = required film ÷ usable roll length × roll price
- Purchase cost = whole rolls × roll price
Inputs explained
- Good Packs Required: Whole accepted packs needed from the planned production run.
- Film Repeat Length: Film length consumed per attempt for the selected wrap format.
- Production Film Yield: Useful production share of film after rejects and rewraps.
- Setup Film Waste: Separate film allowance before steady production begins.
- Usable Roll Length: Available film per purchased roll after unusable end allowance.
- Price per Roll: Purchase price for a roll with the entered usable length.
How to use the result
- Best suited to film purchase budget, yield loss sensitivity.
- Expected yield does not guarantee stock sufficiency. Supports 0.01 mm repeat, 0.01 percentage-point yield and 0.001 m length resolution. Combined integer numerator must not exceed 100 trillion; this is a software limit.
Current U.S. benchmarks
- The producer price index for plastic resins and materials stands at 280.569 (BLS, Aug 2026), up 6.6% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
- The producer price index for paper (not a paperboard or container index) stands at 282.266 (BLS, Aug 2026), up 10% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
Common questions
- Why does purchase cost exceed consumed value? Whole rolls leave usable inventory after the expected requirement. The two amounts answer purchasing and consumption questions respectively.
- Does yield include setup loss? No. Enter production rejects and rewraps in yield, then enter setup film separately to avoid double counting.
- What if the requirement exactly fills a roll? The roll count stays at that whole number. Bounded integer arithmetic prevents decimal rounding from purchasing an extra roll.
- Why are some extra decimal places rejected? The stated numerical resolution keeps whole-roll boundaries reproducible across the calculator and workbook. Unsupported precision is rejected rather than silently rounded.
Last reviewed 2026-10-12.