Inside a Steel Distributor's Export Program: Notched Winged Skids and a Heat-Treated Crate Library

Long-format export crates from the library, strapped and staged for the next order.

The challenge

Steel and specialty-alloy shipping does not work on a standard pallet. The product weights are higher than the GMA pallet was ever designed to carry. The bundles overhang on every side. The strapping that holds the load has to pass through the pallet, not around it, or the strap cuts into the lumber and the load lets go in transit.

And that is the easier half. The other half is export. When steel goes overseas, the wood packaging has to meet ISPM-15. Heat-treated to 133 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. IPPC stamp on every piece. Customs paperwork that matches the stamp. Standard crates are not built to that spec out of the box, and most catalog suppliers will not build the size ranges a steel mill needs.

A national steel and specialty-alloy distributor came to Atlas with both problems. They needed a heavy-duty skid for domestic steel shipping, with a notch through the deck for the strap and wings on the base for the overhang. They also needed a deep library of heat-treated export crates, in sizes that matched their product line, ready for international freight on no notice. They had been building each crate individually in-house, but carpentry projects take up space, and it pulled workers off of what the company does best: filling steel orders. What the customer wanted was a set of crates and skids that were uniform and predictable, rather than ones with a too-narrow base, or walls that were insufficiently braced and therefore required lots of extra strapping.

The solution

Atlas designed two builds, side by side.

The notched winged skid for steel

These skids were designed for the load. A 24 by 42 deck for the shorter steel runs and a 24 by 78 deck for the longer ones. The notch cuts through the deck at the right interval so the strapping pulls down on the load without sawing into the lumber. The winged base extends past the deck on both sides so the overhanging steel has support all the way across. The skid is built heavy. Thicker stringers, more boards, lumber rated for steel weight.

The heat-treated export crate library

The export crate series is a library, not a single size. Atlas built sizes across the customer's product line. 158 inches long for the longest bundles. 84 inches and 74 inches for the mid runs. 49 inches, 39 inches, and 32 inches for the shorter pieces. Cross-sections in 12 by 12, 9 by 9, 16 by 14, 27 by 27, 33 by 33 and others. Every crate is heat-treated, stamped with the IPPC mark, and ships with the customs paperwork attached to the unit.

Long-format product in a lined crate from the library, ready for the lid and the strap.

The numbers

Two years in, the program has built into the recurring backbone of the customer's export packaging. The skids ship every few weeks. The crate library cycles through on whatever pattern the export orders set.

The relationship

Atlas runs the program on a steady recurring cadence. When the customer's export orders come in, the export crate sizes are ready. When the domestic strapping runs ship, the notched winged skids are queued.

The same person at Atlas owns the program from quote through delivery. When the customer adds a new crate size to the library, that is the person who works the spec, builds the first sample, and sets the recurring schedule. No ticket queue, no rep rotation, no escalation path.

Atlas runs lean by design. That structure is what keeps a multi-product program at a multi-size library accountable to a single point of contact.

The result

The program is one of the deepest customer relationships in Atlas's custom pallet and crate work. 1,800 notched winged skids shipped to date. A heat-treated export crate library in many sizes, replenished as the customer's export orders set the pace.

For Atlas, the program is the textbook example of what happens when the supplier designs the build to the actual load. Standard 48 by 40 GMA pallets and standard 4 by 4 by 4 export crates would have shipped on day one. They would have failed by week six. The notched winged skid does not fail. The export crate library does not run out of the size the customer needs.