Systems for monitoring and controlling usage of materials

A material usage tracking system for monitoring and optimizing usage of stretch film on multiple stretch wrapping machines used to wrap products or pallets of products, the system comprising:

• a plurality of rotary encoder collars, each rotary encoder collar configured to be securable to a pre-stretch roller of a respective stretch wrapping machine;
• a plurality of proximity sensors, each proximity sensor configured for placement proximate to a respective rotary encoder collar, upon installation, each proximity sensor configured to measure the revolutions of the pre-stretch roller of the respective wrapping machine based on the rotation of the rotary encoder collar when the respective stretch wrapping machine is wrapping a product or pallet;
• a plurality of controllers, each controller in communication with a respective proximity sensor, the controller configured to convert the revolutions of the corresponding pre-stretch roller into a measurement of the amount of stretch film pulled off a stretch film roll in the respective stretch wrapping machine based on data received from the proximity sensor;
• and
• a central database in communication with each of the plurality of controllers, the central database collecting and storing data from each controller, the data stored on the central database is analyzed to provide information to monitor and optimize the stretch wrapping machine.