Cardboard box manufacturer - UK or Europe

[JCKST1]

Evening everyone,


I am looking at getting approx 250 large cardboard boxes manufactured and looking for recommendations.
They will be for bicycles so strong double-wall box and 155cm in length, most of the companies I have contacted cant produce boxes this size.

Can any members on here recommend a company who maybe able to help.

Thanks

[khushy]

Talk to a uk bicycle manufacturer - there are a few left - or talk to a few HUGE bicycle shops - they will throw bike boxes away and it will be a PITA to get rid.

One of my best friends runs a BIG bike retailer all his stuff is from china and europe - he has 100’s of bikes imported - an extra few boxes wont be a problem

Make friends with 10 LBS’s then you only need 15 from each and you will be upcycling = cool

From a fellow bike biz owner :-)

[JCKST1]

Thanks.

80% of the ones we use now are brand new but we do often re-use boxes and get some from other local shops when needed however as demand is growing we need more so going to get some made with company branding on and slightly larger than the new ones we use now so they fit any bike in comfortably.

We prefer to keep the rear wheel on the bike to protect the derailleur so a lot of the smaller boxes (around 120-140cm) in length are no good and as the bike are £1000 - £5000 we need them to be well protected and in a suitable box.

[951TSE]

No idea if these guys can help. Their site 'claims' they can make any size box:

https://www.defendapack.com/custom_made_cardboard_...

[ben5575]

It's not often that I would see a post about cardboard boxes and click on it, but I triggered a memory of a conversation with somebody I train with who told me he makes cardboard boxes.

I think he works here: https://www.cepac.co.uk/

If that looks like the kind of thing you're looking for I can have a word with him next week if I see him?

[chrisch77]

I used these guys in my last job for bespoke boxes and inserts for expensive motorsport parts:

https://www.boxesandpackaging.co.uk/index.html

[alfabeat]

We used Dean Packaging for our custom sized boxes. Good prices and excellent service from Barry Godwin (sales director)

https://www.deanpackaging.com/

[JCKST1]

Thanks guys. I have emailed a couple of the above and got one quote back.

Any more recommendations appreciated.

[Glade]

Used to use Saica Pack. I have audited them and seen the big machines. Pretty impressive. Manufacturers can do a lot with different construction of the corrugated material with different weight of paper, different recycled % and iirc different form of the corrugated part.

They take massive rolls of paper and make rolls of the corrugated card. They create the "die" used to cut the box shape. It's like a cookie cutter on a roller and they feed in the card and out come the box shapes ready for you to fold. Automated lines that fire the box shapes onto a pallet and wrap it etc.

The thing is for 250 boxes creating the tooling, and setting up they'd bash out 250 boxes really quickly. Tooling and setup costs for your 250 boxes would be probably too much.

You may find a company who already has their own tooling for a bike box, then it's easier. Or maybe a more manual process with cheaper tooling better suited to small runs.

I think the recycling option would be easier but... would your customers accept a battered box?

[Glade]

I should say, Saica are geared up for big stuff.

Also Kite packaging pretty decent but we used them for shock protection on smaller products. Not sure if they manufacture their own, but were good at getting us custom inserts to protect the stock.

[rich1231]

We have used a company called Cumberland Packaging based in Essex. They did custom sizes some time ago for us.

[andyb28]

A friend of mine is the UK sales manager of https://dejongverpakking.com/en/

Happy to put you in touch if it helps. Just PM me.