Framed plywood crates for impact and weather resistance, riveted plywood cases that fold flat, and foam-lined ply cases for instruments and finished goods. Built in Bideford, delivered UK-wide.
APS Packaging manufactures plywood crates and plywood cases at our 300,000 sq ft site in Bideford, Devon. Plywood costs a little more than OSB and earns it: it takes a knock without splitting, it shrugs off standing water, it looks clean when the crate is opened in front of a customer, and it is lighter than close-boarded timber for the same protection. That makes it the right board for high-value goods, repeated handling and air freight.
Plywood cladding on 22 x 100 mm timber picture frames, on a two-way entry base with the bearers on edge. The frame sits on the outside so the inside is flat and the internal size is exact. Built to any size, assembled or knock-down, with a battened lid.
Lightweight, collapsible cases with plywood panels riveted to steel edging. They fold flat for storage and return trips, and go together in minutes. Each panel is riveted from a single sheet, so riveted cases suit items up to about 2.4 m x 1.2 m on a face; larger cases are framed.
Both are cut on CNC and optimising saws from a drawing, so repeat orders are identical. Ply thickness is chosen for the load, from thin poplar ply for light instrument cases to 18 mm and 24 mm ply decks and walls for machinery. Solid-timber frames, bases and skids are ISPM 15 heat treated in our own kilns and the finished crate is stamped FC0542.
Choose plywood when the product is worth more than the crate by a long way, when the crate will be handled many times, when it may stand outdoors, or when the customer will see it. Choose it for air freight, where a lighter crate that keeps its shape saves volumetric weight. We build plywood cases for electronics and control equipment, scientific and test instruments, aerospace and defence spares, artwork and exhibition pieces, prototype parts and finished consumer goods.
If none of that applies, an OSB crate on the same frame will usually do the job for less, and we will tell you so.
Collapsible ply cases with steel edging, our lightest reusable case.
The economical framed crate for most freight.
ISPM 15 crates designed for the container, the hold or the aircraft.
How we design a crate around your product.
Plywood itself is exempt because it is a processed wood product, but the solid-timber frame, base or skids of the crate are not, so the crate as a whole is treated and stamped. If a case is all plywood with no solid wood, we will tell you it needs no mark.
In practice the words are used interchangeably. We tend to say case for a lighter, fully enclosed box, often riveted and collapsible, and crate for a framed or timber-based build that takes a forklift. Either way, tell us what is going in it and we will build the right one.
Each riveted panel is made from a single sheet, so a riveted case suits items up to about 2.4 m long by 1.2 m high on a face. Above that we build a framed plywood crate, which has no size limit in practice.
Yes. Sheet foam, convoluted foam and cut foam sets shaped to the product are fitted here, along with cradles and dividers, so goods arrive packed from one supplier.
One case or hundreds. Riveted cases stack flat, so regular users often hold a stock of them and re-use them for years.
Send us the size, weight and what the crate is protecting and we will quote framed or riveted, whichever suits. Mon to Fri 08:30 to 17:00.
Email our Sales Team : sales@apspackaging.co.uk
Send us a Message or Request a call back. Enter your details and we’ll be in touch.
