Stretch wrap for automotive parts

• Stampings and brackets with edges

  Blown film, 90 to 120 ga

  Edges start tears; blown film resists them, and corner boards help.

• Bare steel parts

  VCI film

  Gives off a corrosion inhibitor inside the wrap.

• Electronic modules and sensors

  Anti-static film

  Keeps static from film off sensitive parts.

• Totes and boxed parts

  Cast film, 80 ga

  Square loads; clear film keeps part labels readable.

• Michigan111,465 jobs
• Ohio62,025 jobs
• Indiana52,146 jobs
• Tennessee38,791 jobs
• Kentucky32,261 jobs

US total in motor vehicle parts manufacturing: 521,212 private jobs across 6,414 establishments, 2025 annual average.¹

Assembly plants are fewer and larger: motor vehicle manufacturing employed 288,633 people across 934 establishments in 2025, led by Michigan, Texas, California, Kentucky and Alabama.² The parts plants that feed them are spread through the Midwest and South, and their pallets are the ones that test film. Where parts plants run wrappers all shift, the right film is the one that survives the edges at the lowest gauge, which is a question for blown film, corner boards and a check of each load.

Parts delivered to an assembly plant are often unwrapped next to the line, by people working to a schedule. Film that is easy to cut away cleanly, and doesn't leave strands caught in racks or totes, saves minutes every hour. Some plants specify film colour so their own film can't be mixed with a supplier's in the recycling bin. Heavy stampings and castings, by contrast, travel between suppliers and may sit in storage for weeks, which is where VCI film and corner boards matter more than speed. Ask your customer's packaging guide what it expects before choosing.

Parts often travel in returnable plastic totes or steel racks with foam or plastic dunnage. Film holds the totes on the pallet and keeps lids on; some suppliers also wrap individual stacks of parts inside a rack so they don't rattle. Keep film out of the dunnage itself, which goes back to the supplier for reuse.

Service-parts warehouses pick mixed orders for dealers and repair shops, wrapped by hand.

Battery modules and cells travel in specialised, often regulated packaging; film secures outer cartons on the pallet, and the shipper's hazardous-goods rules come first.

Are returnable racks wrapped?

Often the parts inside are: film keeps them in the rack and clean. VCI film is used when the parts are bare steel.

Corner boards or heavier film?

Try corner boards first. They protect the film at the edges and often let you stay at a lighter gauge.

How are battery modules wrapped?

Batteries ship in specialised, often regulated packaging. Film secures the outer cartons to the pallet; the shipper's hazardous-goods rules come first.