Bespoke Stillages
A catalogue size that nearly fits costs you space on every trailer and a compromise on every lift. We design the unit around the part, the process and the trucks that move it — then keep the drawing so the next batch matches this one.
Sketch, sample or drawing worked up in CAD
Sized to your product, racking and fork trucks
Mesh or solid floors, posts, castors, fork pockets
Repeat batches built to the retained drawing
Design to manufacture
Most bespoke jobs start with one of three things: a hand sketch, a sample part, or a drawing from your own engineering team. Any of them is enough to begin. What we need alongside it is the operational detail — what goes in the unit, roughly what it weighs, how it is loaded and unloaded, what handles it, where it is stored and how high it stacks.
From there our engineers work the concept up in CAD. The drawing is where the decisions get made and argued about: footprint against your racking and trailer, access height against the reach of the person loading it, post and divider positions against how the load actually sits rather than how it sits in theory. You approve that drawing before anything is cut.
Once it is signed off, the unit is fabricated, welded and assembled in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. Building in-house means the people who drew it are the people who make it, so a question about a detail gets answered the same day instead of the following week.
What we design around
A stillage is work equipment, so we design it against the way it will actually be used rather than a generic capacity figure. Load weight and how it is distributed, where the centre of gravity really sits, and how the unit behaves when it is stacked and only the bottom one is full — those questions set the steel, the bracing and the base long before anything cosmetic is decided.
Handling comes next. Fork pocket size, spacing and clearances are matched to your trucks and tine profiles, not to a standard that may not be yours. Where units are moved by pallet truck, towed, or presented to automated handling, the interface is designed for that specific method. Most stillages are designed to be handled by forklift and should not be craned. If lifting is a requirement, tell us at the enquiry stage — it changes the design rather than being added to the end of it.
Finish is specified against the environment the unit lives in: self-colour indoors, RAL or BS paint where colour-coding or corporate livery matters, galvanising or powder coating where units sit outside or take a wash-down or chemical duty. Identification and branding plates can be fitted at the same time.
Repeatability
We retain the approved drawing and the jig setup, so a batch ordered later matches the units you already run — same footprint, same stacking features, same fork pockets. A fleet that stays consistent stacks consistently, cubes predictably on the trailer and can be repaired from a common stock of parts.
Units are supplied with UKCA marking where applicable, Safe Working Load plates and serial numbers, with documentation for your QHSE or technical file. Safe Working Load is defined during design and verification and, where relevant, confirmed by physical test — it is not estimated after the unit is built.
Standard builds typically ship in 3–4 weeks; bespoke units are confirmed on your quote. Everything is manufactured in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, with a direct line to the people building it.
Questions
A sketch, a sample part, a drawing, or an existing unit you want matched — any of those is a starting point. Alongside it, tell us what the unit holds, roughly what it weighs, how it is loaded, what moves it, and whether it stacks. Those details shape the design more than the outline dimensions do.
Yes. Our engineers work your requirement up as a CAD concept and you approve it before we cut steel. It’s the cheapest point in the process to change your mind, so we’d rather spend the time there than at the factory acceptance.
Both are normal work — one-offs, prototypes and full production runs. It’s worth telling us the likely repeat volume when you enquire, because an expected repeat can change how the unit is designed and jigged.
Yes, but it has to be designed for lifting from the outset — it is not a lug welded on afterwards. Most stillages are forklift-handled work equipment under PUWER and should not be craned. Where a unit is genuinely designed to be lifted, it is individually identified and supplied with the examination and testing records your competent person needs to plan inspections.
Self-colour, any RAL or BS paint colour, galvanising, or powder coating for additional corrosion resistance or high visibility. Colour-matching to your livery and fitting branded identification plates are both straightforward at build stage.
Standard builds typically ship in 3–4 weeks; bespoke units are confirmed on your quote. Design and approval sit ahead of that, so the earlier we see your requirement the earlier the clock starts.
How a unit gets made
Every unit follows the same five steps, whether it is one bespoke frame or a fleet of four hundred.
Made to order
Send a drawing, a photo or the part itself — we’ll engineer it, price it and confirm the lead time.
Prefer to talk? 01889 563 244