One-off crates and production runs, designed in-house around the thing you need to move. Framed OSB, plywood or solid timber, lined and braced to fit, delivered across the UK.
Every crate APS Packaging makes is a bespoke wooden crate: we do not stock standard sizes and hope your product fits. You send us the dimensions, the weight and a photograph or drawing; our team designs the crate around it, chooses the construction that suits the load and the journey, and builds it at our 300,000 sq ft site in Bideford, Devon. Then we deliver it on our own fleet across the South West, or by dedicated carrier anywhere in the UK.
Length, width, height and weight are enough to start. A drawing, a photograph or a note on where it is going and how many trips it will make lets us get the design right first time.
Our design team works out the base, the wall construction, the lid and the internals, and confirms the external size against your lorry, container or aircraft pallet. You get a drawing to approve.
Timber and board are cut on CNC and optimising saws and assembled with pneumatic nailing, so the crate is square, repeatable and strong. Solid timber is heat treated in our own kilns for export.
Assembled or flat-packed, lined or empty, to your factory, your packer or the port. Across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset it travels on our own HGVs.
The right build depends on what is inside and where it is going. Most bespoke crates are framed OSB, our standard: 22 x 100 mm timber picture frames clad with 11 mm OSB, flat inside, on a two-way entry base with the bearers on edge. Where impact resistance or appearance matter we clad the frame in plywood; where the load is heavy or needs bolting down we build close-boarded timber crates with full-drop uprights and a two-layer lid. For ventilation or weight we build slatted timber crates, and for a collapsible case that folds flat we build plywood riveted cases.
A crate protects the product only if the product cannot move inside it. We design the internals with the crate, not afterwards.
Sheet foam, convoluted foam and cut foam sets shaped to the product, for instruments, panels, castings and finished goods.
Timber cradles and blocking cut to the profile of the item; bolt-down positions through the floor for machinery and engines.
Barrier bags, VCI film and desiccant for sea freight and long-term storage, with the crate designed to hold them.
Cardboard or timber dividers and internal shelving so a set of parts ships as one crate and unpacks in order.
The internal size you need (or the product dimensions and how much clearance you want), the weight, the quantity and where it is going. A photograph or drawing helps but is not essential. We normally come back with a drawing and a price within a day or two.
Yes. A one-off crate for a single machine or exhibition piece is a normal order for us, and it gets the same design attention as a run of five hundred.
If you are not sure, leave it to us. We will recommend framed OSB unless the load, the route or the appearance calls for plywood or close-boarded timber, and we will explain why.
Yes. We build returnable crates with screwed knock-down joints, hinged or bolted lids and captive fixings, so they can be emptied, folded or stacked and sent back for the next trip.
Every crate can be ISPM 15 heat treated and stamped in our own kilns, which is required for solid-wood packaging entering the EU and most of the world. See our export crates page for what else goes into an export build.
Send us the size, the weight and a photo and we will design the crate around it. Mon to Fri 08:30 to 17:00.
Email our Sales Team : sales@apspackaging.co.uk
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