Sometimes the most suitable and economical returnable container solution for a customer’s project requirements involves “not reinventing the box”. There are many standard, off the shelf handheld stackable plastic containers available for purchase from various suppliers. They come in various footprints and depths and provide a completely open space on the inside.
To make them into a container that is specially suited to hold and protect specific parts, an inner structure is designed and manufactured (the dunnage or nest part). The structure can be mechanically attached to the container or removable. It can provide a single layer of parts per container, or the structure can be stackable platforms, like individual trays, providing the ability to store and ship multiple layers of parts per container.
The most obvious benefit of this solution is that it eliminates the cost for a new injection mold tool for a custom plastic tote or tray. It is most suitable for lower volume applications where the additional tooling cost is an inhibiting factor and outweighs the limitations of not being able to design to the exact dimensions required. Applications that require an extremely deep container are especially good candidates because tooling cost for deep totes is generally more expensive than for more shallow containers.
The custom designed dunnage structure or “nest” is normally an injection molded rigid plastic, such as polypropylene (PP), or in cases where resistance to abrasion or cutting is needed, is injection molded thermoplastic urethane (TPU). If attachment to the standard tote container is required, it can be accomplished with screws, pop-rivets or arrow shaped snap-fit features in the bottom of the nest which are inserted into holes drilled into the floor of the plastic container.
Benefits of using standard plastic containers with custom nest inserts
• No tooling cost required for the container itself
• Ability to potentially reuse the standard container for other needs in the future
• Very economical for lower volume projects
Drawbacks vs design and use of new custom stackable containers
• Limited to the sizes, shapes and designs of currently available containers
• Limited color choices
• Unit price is higher due to labor required to fasten nest inserts into the container
• Reduced ability to add anti-jumping features to the bottoms of the containers
• May not work as well with robotic automation for loading or unloading if the dimension from the outside of the container to the nest feature is critical
