Most manufacturers buy handling equipment reactively. A crate breaks, someone orders replacements, and the fleet grows piece by piece until there are six types of containers on site and no one knows what any of it costs per trip.
Done properly, handling equipment is a production decision, not a purchasing one. It affects damage rates, line downtime, how much floor space stock takes up and how much of the working day people spend moving things. This guide covers the main decisions across the flow of a manufacturing site, from goods-in to dispatch.
Why handling equipment affects output
Four costs sit behind every handling decision:
- Components damaged in transit or storage are scrapped or reworked, and the cost lands after the value has been added.
- If parts arrive line-side in the wrong container, someone decants them. That’s time the line isn’t running.
- Equipment that doesn’t stack or nest occupies floor area that could hold production or stock.
- Single-trip packaging is bought every trip again. Returnable equipment is bought once and amortised across hundreds.
These are the numbers worth measuring before changing anything.
Goods-in incoming components
Incoming parts usually arrive in whatever packaging the supplier chooses, which means mixed pallet sizes, cardboard of varying quality and materials that have to be disposed of on site.
The fix is a standard agreed with the suppliers you buy the most from: a shared pallet footprint, a shared container size, and where volumes justify it, a returnable loop so the empties go back rather than into the waste stream. Suppliers generally accept this where the volume is steady because it lowers their packaging costs too.
Line-side: small parts and sub-assemblies
Line-side is where poor handling equipment shows up fastest. What matters here:
- Euro containers in standard footprints (600×400mm, 400×300mm and 300×200mm) that stack on a pallet without wasted space.
- Open-front (picking) containers so operators can reach parts without lifting lids.
- Dividers and inserts to keep machined or finished parts apart and prevent surface damage.
- Colour coding to separate part families, or to mark quarantine and rework briefly.
- Trolleys and dollies so containers are moved without manual lifting.
Standard footprints matter more than they look. Containers that share a modular footprint stack cleanly, fit racking and suit automated handling. Odd sizes don’t, and one odd size propagates through the whole site.
Work in progress
Part-finished goods need equipment that protects them between operations and moves easily. Plastic pallet boxes and stillages are the usual answer: rigid, stackable when loaded, and available with drop-down doors so parts can be picked without unstacking.
For heavier components, check the static and dynamic load ratings rather than assuming a box rated for storage can be moved loaded.
Finished goods and despatch
At dispatch, the main choice is the pallet, and it depends on how the load is stored and shipped. Stackable pallets suit block-stacked storage and conveyors, and nestable pallets save space on one-way shipments. Article 3 in this set covers that decision in full, and this pillar should link to it.
For manufacturers, the two points that matter most are load rating (manufacturing loads are often heavier than retail loads) and dimensional consistency, because automated wrappers, conveyors and AS/RS systems jam on warped or out-of-spec pallets.
Exporting finished goods
Wooden packaging leaving Great Britain, including to the EU, must meet ISPM 15 heat treatment and marking rules. Plastic pallets and containers are exempt, which removes a compliance step and the risk of a shipment being held at the border.
For manufacturers exporting regularly, the calculation is usually between treated wood on a one-way basis and nestable plastic pallets that take less trailer space on the return leg, if there is one.
Returnable loops and cost per trip
The cost that matters is not the purchase price; it’s the cost per trip: the price of the equipment divided by the number of journeys it completes before it is scrapped, plus the cost of returning it.
A closed loop works when the volume is steady, the route is fixed, and both sides track the assets. It typically fails for one reason: nobody counts the empties. Which leads to the next section.
Tracking your handling assets
Containers and pallets disappear. They go out with deliveries, sit in customers’ yards and get quietly absorbed into other people’s fleets. On a returnable loop, loss rate decides whether the loop saves money at all.
RFID tags, barcodes or permanent asset marking, combined with a count at each end, turn the fleet from an assumption into a number. See Exporta’s product tracking options (link: /product-tracking/).
Food and other regulated manufacturing
Food manufacturers carry extra requirements: cleanable non-porous surfaces, food-contact approved materials, pest control and traceability under BRCGS. In practice, that usually means hygienic plastic pallets and containers in production areas and no wood past the goods-in boundary.
The same reasoning applies in pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing, where cleaning must be confirmed. See how Exporta supports food manufacturing and pharmaceutical operations.
Automation
Any site running conveyors, automated wrapping, AGVs or automated storage needs equipment made to a consistent specification. Moulded plastic pallets and containers hold their dimensions and weight; wooden pallets vary between batches and change as they age and absorb moisture. Where automation is planned rather than installed, it is much cheaper to standardise the handling equipment first.
Reviewing your setup
A practical starting point:
- Count what you have. How many containers and pallet types are on site, and how many are needed?
- Find the damage. Which operations generate scrap or rework caused by handling?
- Check the footprints. Do containers, pallets, racking, and vehicles share a sensible modular size?
- Work out cost per trip. For the top three items by volume, purchase price divided by expected trips, plus return costs.
- Agree standards with key suppliers. Start with the suppliers you buy the most from.
Exporta supplies plastic pallets, containers, pallet boxes and handling equipment to UK manufacturers, with next-day delivery on stock lines. Talk to the team about standardising your handling equipment.
