Packing Services for Coated Components
The last step in the job, and the one that decides what arrives
Getting coated parts to you undamaged is the last step in the job, and it is the one that decides what condition they arrive in. Great Dane packs your parts after coating, cure, and any assembly or labeling steps. Whether you are shipping large industrial weldments or small components in volume, the pack is built around what the parts are and how far they have to travel.
How we pack depends on the part. Coated surfaces are protected from rubbing against each other, from shifting on the skid, and from the handling a shipment takes on the way to you. From single pieces to bulk runs, the aim is simple. The finish inspected here should be the finish you receive there.
Why Choose Our Packing Services?
Everything upstream can go right and still be undone at the dock. A finish that survived cure and passed inspection can be ruined by a few hundred miles of freight. We pack to prevent that, and we will tell you plainly what a pack can and cannot protect against, so there are no surprises when the truck arrives at your end.
What do you pack parts in?
In most cases, back into what they arrived in. Parts go onto your skid or into the boxes you provided, which keeps your containers in circulation and keeps the pack familiar to your receiving team.
Protective materials go in around them. Foam, cardboard, and paper are the common ones, used to separate parts, cushion coated faces, and stop movement on the skid. The right combination depends on the part. A heavy weldment with a textured finish needs different treatment than a tray of small brackets in high gloss, where part-to-part contact is the main risk.
If your order needs extra documentation, we can print and include custom instruction sheets or add printed materials you supply, so the shipment arrives complete rather than needing a second envelope to follow it. If you do not have packaging to send, raise it when you request a quote and we will tell you what the options are.
How does the way parts ship change the way they are packed?
It changes it a great deal, and it is the question most often skipped. A dedicated truck going two hours down the road is handled once at each end. An LTL shipment crossing several states is a different situation. It moves through terminals, gets loaded next to other freight, and may be repalletized by people who have no idea what is under the wrap. Every one of those touches is a chance for a skid to shift or a corner to get caught.
Distance matters, but handling count matters more. So tell us how the shipment travels. If it is going LTL, the pack has to assume rough handling rather than hope for careful handling, and that usually means more separation between parts and more attention to how the load is secured on the skid. If you are picking up with your own truck, the pack can be simpler and lighter, and that saves you money.
How should you ship parts to us?
This runs in both directions, and inbound damage is more common than most manufacturers expect. Parts that arrive rubbed, dented, or rusted have to be dealt with before coating, and some of it cannot be fixed by coating at all. A coating covers a surface, it does not repair one. Deep scratches, dents, and pitting will still be visible under a finish, sometimes more visible than before. So the same thinking that goes into the outbound pack is worth applying to the inbound one. Keep machined faces and critical surfaces from rubbing against each other in transit. Keep steel dry, since surface rust that forms in a damp trailer adds a prep step. Load so parts can be unloaded without being dragged. If you are shipping to us for the first time and are not sure how to stage a load, ask. Getting this right shortens your turnaround and lowers your cost.
How does packing fit with labeling and kitting?
They are one sequence, not three services, and the order is fixed. Parts are coated and cured, then labeled, then kitted if the order calls for it, then packed. Each step constrains the next.
Labels have to face outward if your receiving team is going to scan them without unpacking. Kits have to stay together and stay counted inside the pack. The packing arrangement has to match the way your line pulls material, or somebody at your end spends an afternoon undoing it. When one supplier runs the whole sequence, those decisions get made together and get recorded on your ID Sheet with the rest of the job. When they are split across vendors, they get made separately by people who cannot see each other's work. All three services are covered on our Custom Services page.
Do you pack e-coated parts the same way?
The principles are the same and a couple of details differ. E-coat is applied as a thin, uniform film, so there is less coating thickness between the substrate and whatever the part touches. E-coated parts also frequently go straight into an assembly operation rather than onto a shelf, which means the pack has to survive the trip and then present the parts in a usable order. Dual-layer work, where a powder topcoat goes over an e-coat primer, is packed like any other powder coated part, since the powder is the surface being protected. Both plants feed the same packing operation, so the specification and the standards do not change based on which line your parts ran through. If an order mixes powder coated and e-coated components, they can be packed together and shipped as one load on one purchase order.
Tell us how your parts ship, how far they travel, and how they get handled at your end. We will tell you how we plan to pack them. Call 724-537-9709 or request a quote.
You can learn more about the value added-services we offer on our Custom Services page.