Which storage containers are right for you?

Storage and transport containers can be used in many different ways. Almost every industry makes special demands on the containers they use. Take, for example, the special regulations for temperature-controlled transport in the pharmaceutical and food industries. For the transport and storage of electronic and electromechanical components, containers and other storage technology are required that provide protection against electrostatic discharges (ESD containers). For the storage and transportation of hazardous substances you need especially safe and tested transport and storage boxes. 

Before buying containers or storage boxes, you should always be clear about the exact purpose for which the boxes are to be used. For example, this could be protection against dirt and damage during storage and transport or they could be intended for use as picking containers. If the boxes are to be used on conveyors, they need to be particularly stable, strong and have a base suitable for smooth movement on the conveyor. The area of the business where they are to be used (e.g. warehouse, production, workshop, picking, transport, etc.) can have a large influence on the style of container to be considered. 

Material can also play an important role in choosing a container - different types of plastics, recycled plastic, cardboard or steel are all possible options. The choice of material will also be influenced by how often and for how long the storage boxes will be used. How many years are the storage containers expected to be in operation?  Special requirements can have a large influence on the container to be used.  Examples of special requirements are - suitability for food safety or for heavy loads, resistance to extremes in temperature, suitability for use with oils, acids or alkalis or ease of cleaning. Sometimes the space required to store containers when not in use is the deciding factor and, if that is the case, foldable, collapsible, nestable or stackable versions need to be considered. 

How easily containers are moved can be the most important factor - do they need to be moved around a facility on internal transport and, if so, containers with feet suitable for pallet trucks and fork lift trucks will be the best solution.  

After the application and the special requirements for the storage container have been determined, you must now be clear about the size needed - internal and external dimensions, volumes and weight capacity are key factors. A crucial point to check is whether they need to be transported or stored on 1200 x 800mm euro pallets. The footprint options of euro containers are designed to neatly fit onto euro pallets with no wasted space. They also work well with UK standard pallets, measuring 1200 x 1000mm. Available base sizes of euro containers are 300 × 200 mm, 400 × 300 mm and 600 × 400 mm.  

Last, but not least, some containers can also be equipped with inlays and cooling inserts for temperature-controlled transport. Pre-formed inlays can also be used for the protective transport of high-value IT equipment such as laptops, tablets and associated hardware such as batteries. Here, foam inlays or inlays made of thermoforming sheets or EPS foams are available. To enable containers to be subdivided for multiple item storage, longitudinal and transverse dividers as well as insert boxes are also available.

Selecting the right design of container is enormously important to the uninterrupted flow of material in a company. Containers act not only as load carriers in logistics but also as information transmitters and thus form the basis of Kanban systems. A distinction is also made between small load carriers and large load carriers such as pallets, pallet boxes, wire stillages and large containers). Small load carriers (KLT) - also known as euro crates, euro stacking containers or euroboxes - are transport and storage crates made from polypropylene in predefined colours and standardized by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). 

Below, you will find a list of storage containers, transportation containers, plastic containers, stacking containers and storage boxes available on the market. 

For small parts storage, open fronted storage boxes, shelf bins and C-part storage containers are often used. Open fronted storage bins are particularly suitable for inventory control as they are designed to stack and re suitable for picking. Shelf bins are often used for storing small parts in production or for picking. C-part storage bins combine the advantages of shelf bins and open fronted storage bins, as they neatly fit standard metric shelf dimensions and they also include a convenient viewing and removal opening.  

Euro stacking containers are plastic containers manufactured to the Euronorm standard with a large internal volume and suitable for numerous applications in warehouses and production facilities. They are suitable for the storage of small parts, single items or small containers. When empty, the storage boxes can be easily stacked and stored in a space-saving way. The plastic containers are available in different sizes, heights and styles. Their dimensions are suited to be stored neatly on a euro pallet with no wasted space. Various lids close the storage boxes and protect the contents from dust and moisture. 

Reusable MB containers (nestable), EQ collapsible boxes and rotary stacking containers U-Turn (nestable) are plastic space-saving containers that save a lot of volume when nested or folded for storage and return transport. Consequently, storage and freight costs can be significantly reduced. They are often used in order picking, storage boxes and transportation boxes, often as an alternative to one-way packaging. 

XL Motion system containers, KLT small load carriers, MB distribution containers, EQ folding boxes and XL euro stacking containers are all suitable for smooth and quiet operation on conveyor lines. In particular, the XL Motion has been designed for quiet and stable running on conveyor lines. The plastic container has a reinforced double base providing high rigidity and good noise reduction when used on conveyors.

Complete solution for pharmaceuticals, e-commerce and valuable cargo 

The MB container with thermal insulation insert is ideally suited for pharmaceutical logistics and the handling of temperature-sensitive goods such as drugs or vaccines. The insulation insert guarantees a temperature of 2 to 8°C for at least twelve hours. This is ensured by an insert made from Neopor foam, which enables a high level of insulation, and three cooling elements of the Icecatch Solid Isolated type. These are equipped with an integrated, hydrophobic insulation layer to prevent the transported goods from freezing. To ensure that the temperature is always reliably monitored, the plastic container can be equipped with a SmartTracker. Other parameters that can be monitored by the SmartTracker include vibration, GPS location and humidity. The robust and versatile SmartLock not only ensures security, but also offers smart features such as smart status signals (temperature, humidity), position and speed sensor, smart logistics (automatic alarm and report, remote access to lock, personalized access control, API integration), and much more. Therefore all these factors make this container particularly suited to the movement of valuable or temperature sensitive shipments. 

Food container 

The BITOBOX MB Food & Delivery system is a container with modular inserts for insulation, cool packs and dividers. It can be used to transport different types of food in a space efficient way. The plastic container is available in various configurations with different insulating inserts made from expandable polypropylene (EPP) which allow its use in different drying or cooling areas. Since the inserts are available in different sizes, the plastic container can also be equipped for two different freshness and temperature zones. The correct cooling temperature is maintained by means of high or half-height cool packs. 

Computer and electrical industry 

For the transport and storage of electronic and electromechanical components, boxes are necessary to provide protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD). The material of the storage and transport containers can be modified by two processes to protect against ESD One technique to make the polypropylene (PP) for the ESD containers conductive is by adding carbon in some way, e.g. soot particles. This causes the material for the boxes to turn black, the density increases and the electrical resistance is then approx. < 105 Ohm. The second way to modify the PP of ESD containers is to increase the resistance to about 1011 Ohm. The material is then not considered conductive but dissipative. This material variant is preferred by some companies because the current is not dissipated jerkily but "more gently". This prevents damage to the sensitive electronic components. Dissipative material is available in different basic colours. BITO has a range of ESD products including ESD Euro containers, ESD visible storage boxes, ESD KLT containers, ESD stacking containers, ESD folding boxes, ESD crates, ESD heavy duty containers, ESD pallets, ESD shelves, and ESD roller track. 

The reusable MB plastic container is also available for the safe transport of dangerous goods. It has been approved by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) as external packaging for the transport and storage of dangerous goods for packaging groups II and III. All MB plastic containers for dangerous goods are marked with UN Code 4H2/Y25/S/18/D/BAM6107-BITO. The MB storage box is purple red and supplied with a drop-on lid and metal snap locks. The storage box is available in standard euro size bases and various heights. 

Large containers are suitable for bulky and heavy goods in all areas of a company including production, storage and order picking. With high load capacities, the plastic containers can be supplied with a half height drop door, pick opening or 4 solid walls. Equipped with fork entry shoes, the storage box can be easily lifted and transported with a pallet truck or forklift. The footprint of the storage box matches that of half a Euro pallet (800 x 600mm). Containers are grey and are available with a choice of colour corner strip to facilitate product segregation. 

Trays are used in automated small parts warehouses to transport and store non-conveyable goods such as cardboard boxes or odd shaped items. They are specially tailored to the requirements of the respective conveyor technology. For automatic loading and unloading, there is a lift-out function which separates the goods on the tray from the tray itself. There are system trays, distribution trays, euro trays and project trays. If cardboard boxes or containers with special dimensions are to be brought into automated logistics systems, it is necessary to use project trays with individual sizes or characteristics. They are manufactured according to the requirements defined by the user, to enable the trouble free and safe movement of even special sized loads.