Industries · automotive
Two problems in one plant: big cube out, dense weight in.
- Common footprint
- 48 × 40 × 44 and 48 × 45 × 34
- Typical grade
- 2A – 3A
- Direction
- Generator and consumer
Supply an automotive plant
Give us the rack footprint, the part weight and the release schedule. Tier plants live on schedule adherence and so do we.
Answer first
Rack footprint first, everything else second.
Automotive is the one sector where the box has to fit the rack, not the pallet. A 48 × 45 footprint sized to a specific dunnage rack cannot be substituted with a GMA-sized box, however similar the cube. Sending the wrong footprint does not cause an inconvenience; it stops a line.
So we ask for the rack dimension before the material. From there the rest follows: light bulky trim wants the tallest box the rack bay allows, while stamped and machined parts want a shallow 24 or 30 inch box so the weight limit and the cube run out together.
The second automotive-specific constraint is schedule. Tier plants operate on releases, not orders. We hold reserved inventory against a release schedule rather than making a scheduler compete with the open floor for availability.
In practice
What this sector actually runs.
| Material | Footprint | Wall | Grade | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior trim and soft parts | 48 × 40 × 44 | 5-wall | 3A | Cube-limited; buy the tallest the bay allows |
| Seat foam and headliners | 48 × 40 × 48 | 5-wall | 3A | Extremely light; freight is the whole cost |
| Blow-moulded components | 48 × 45 × 34 | 4-wall | 2A – 3A | Rack-specific; do not substitute a GMA footprint |
| Stamped metal and brackets | 48 × 40 × 24 | Triple wall | 2A | Weight-limited; shallow box, full pallet support |
| Fasteners and small machined parts | 41 × 28 × 25 | 4-wall | 3A | Half gaylords keep line-side reach sensible |
| Aftermarket and service parts | 48 × 40 × 36 | 4-wall | 2A | Often customer-facing; grade up a rung |
How we work
How we run an automotive account
- 01
Release-based supply
Reserved inventory against your release schedule, not against whatever happens to be on the floor that week.
- 02
Matched footprints
We hold the rack-specific sizes you run, including the ones nobody else stocks because they are not GMA.
- 03
Reverse flow
Empties from your receiving side collected on the same visit that delivers to your shipping side.
- 04
Escalation in writing
Every commitment, count and change on one email thread. Schedulers keep audit trails; so do we.
Questions
Sector questions, answered.
Can you match our current rack-specific box?
Can you meet a release schedule?
Do used boxes work for customer-facing service parts?
Scheduling
How a release-based account actually runs.
Tier plants do not place orders, they issue releases. Supplying them means holding physical inventory against a forecast rather than selling to whoever calls first.
- Forecast horizon
- A rolling twelve weeks, re-based monthly. We hold reserved stock against it by footprint and grade.
- Firm window
- Four weeks firm, eight weeks planning. Changes inside the firm window are possible but we say so honestly rather than promising.
- Reserved inventory
- Physically separated in the yard and marked to the account. Not sold to the floor, which is the entire point of the arrangement.
- Delivery pattern
- Scheduled releases against named days, consolidated with empties collection on the same visit.
- Escalation
- A named buyer and a named operations contact. Everything on one written thread so schedulers keep their audit trail.
- Footprint variety
- Automotive runs more rack-specific sizes than any other sector. We hold 48 × 45 and other non-GMA footprints because nobody else regionally does.
Materials
What goes in which box on an automotive site.
The widest spread of any sector we serve \u2014 foam at four hundred pounds a box and stampings that hit their limit at a third of the cube, often on the same shift.
| Material | Footprint | Wall | Grade | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior trim and soft parts | 48 × 40 × 44 | 5-wall | 3A | Cube-limited; buy the tallest the rack bay allows |
| Seat foam and headliners | 48 × 40 × 48 | 5-wall | 3A | Extremely light; freight is essentially the whole cost |
| Blow-moulded components | 48 × 45 × 34 | 4-wall | 2A – 3A | Rack-specific; a GMA substitute overhangs badly |
| Stamped metal and brackets | 48 × 40 × 24 | Triple | 2A | Weight-limited; needs seven-plus deck boards |
| Castings and machined parts | 48 × 40 × 20 | Triple | 2A | Shallow tray; dense loads deflect stringer pallets |
| Fasteners and small parts | 41 × 28 × 25 | 4-wall | 3A | Half gaylords keep line-side reach sensible |
| Wiring harnesses | 48 × 40 × 36 | 4-wall | 3A | Light but bulky; liner prevents snagging |
| Glass and mirrors | 48 × 40 × 30 | 5-wall | 2A | Dividers cut from reclaimed board, made here |
| Aftermarket and service parts | 48 × 40 × 36 | 4-wall | 2A | Often customer-facing; grade up one rung |
Reverse flow
The empties are usually worth more than the site realises.
- Inbound component containers accumulating behind receiving
- Rack-specific boxes that no longer fit a changed programme
- Dunnage and pad stock from discontinued parts
- Pallets, including the non-standard automotive footprints
- Damaged containers that are repairable rather than scrap
- Sound panels from boxes that failed — worth more than OCC
Send us the rack dimension and the release.
We will confirm what we hold, what we can reserve, and what has to be fabricated or sourced new.