The Need For Heavy Duty Storage Boxes

By Author: Nik Vorfi
Total Articles: 12
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When you have a business which either manufactures or uses many parts, some of them big and some of them small, you will need something in which to store and transport them. If you have hundreds of small items, you can put them into boxes: you can also store and transport larger items too. Whatever your business, if you are going to be moving them about very much, you should use heavy duty storage boxes for the simple reason that they will stand up to a lot more punishment than some of the average boxes that are on the market.

You might, for instance, manufacture a range of parts for washing machines, and these need to be regularly delivered to the end manufacturer such as Hotpoint or Beko. Some parts may be small and others may be larger so you may need different sizes of boxes in which to transport them, but even so, you should get boxes which conform to Euro size standards and which are stackable, so that you can save a lot of space in your factory and the same amount of space on the vans or lorries which you use to transport them.

Standard size Euro containers are 600mm x 400mm and will stack in four columns ...
... on a Euro pallet of 1200mm x 800mm and five columns on the British pallet which is 1200mm x 1000mm. You can also get other sizes which fit with the Euro standard size, such as the half size 400mm x 300mm which will stack two up on the standard size, and quarter size boxes of 300mm x 200mm. In addition, you can get larger sized heavy duty storage boxes measuring 800mm x 600mm.

Another industry which makes much use of heavy-duty boxes is the outside catering industry. There are all sorts of different sizes of plates, cups, saucers, dishes, glasses, cutlery, and more, all of which have to be stored in the warehouse, and by definition every time they are used have to be transported to wherever the event is taking place. Then everything needs to be washed up after use and transported back to the warehouse again, so it is no good using standard boxes: they must be heavy duty.

Some heavy duty boxes are what are known as “nesting” boxes. That is they have slightly tapered sides so that when empty they can nest into one another, which takes up a lot less space for storage and transport. Of course, those are no good to the catering industry since the boxes will be permanently full of plates, crockery, cutlery, glasses, and so on, whether they are being transported or stored. In fact, the only time they will be empty is when the items are actually in use at the venue.

However, if you are the aforementioned manufacturer of washing machine parts these could be ideal. You deliver them to the end manufacturer’s factory full, of course, but when the parts have been used you will only need to send one van to pick them up when empty instead of the three or four vans or runs that you had to make when delivering. Heavy duty nesting boxes will take up as much as 75% less space when nesting, so you save on fuel and drivers’ wages as well.

Then there is the question of whether or not you need boxes with lids. It may be that you need lids because your goods need to be secure, and you can get boxes that are lockable, of course. This will also keep the contents away from prying eyes.

There is also the question of identification. Many manufacturers make their boxes in a choice of several colours and this can help to make for easy identification of what is in which box. Others provide colour coded clips which you can add to the boxes for identification purposes. You can also get boxes with ventilated sides so that you can physically see what is in each box. In addition, when using stackable storage boxes, it is bound to be the case that what you need urgently is in the one at the bottom. However, there is a way around this too, and that is that you can get storage boxes with an open front so that everything is accessible.

Caterbox is a leading UK supplier of heavy duty storage boxes for the outside catering industry, although of course these can be used for many other purposes as well.