Polyurethane Dunnage
Loose parts shift, rub and mark. We cast polyurethane inserts around your component’s actual geometry, so it sits in a defined pocket — cushioned and located — from the line to the customer.
Cast to your part — no movement, no marking
Absorbs shock and vibration in transit and handling
Defined pockets speed loading, unloading and checks
Reusable insert, not single-use packaging
What it is
Polyurethane is a hard-wearing polymer with useful shock-absorbing behaviour. Cast into a custom mould it becomes a protective insert that matches your component, so the part drops into a defined pocket and stays there instead of resting on bare steel or working against its neighbours.
That matters most for machined, painted or precision-engineered parts, where a few millimetres of movement across a journey is enough to scuff a face or knock an edge. The insert takes the impact and the vibration; the part arrives as it left.
We design dunnage as part of the stillage or cage it sits in, not as an afterthought — insert, frame and fork access are worked out together so the finished unit handles as one thing.
Tooling, printed in house
Every project starts with the part. We model the component and the insert in SolidWorks, then 3D print the tooling for the PU mould in house — which shortens the run from concept to first casting and handles awkward geometries that would be slow to produce any other way.
Printed tooling also lets us iterate. If a pocket needs deepening or a wall needs moving, we print the revision and cast again. Our CAD and 3D printing service covers that side of the work in more detail; here it simply means the insert you receive fits the part you actually make.
Send a drawing, a CAD file, a photo or the part itself — we can model around an existing component. The same process applies whether you are locating hundreds of identical parts or a handful of one-off fabrications.
The business case
Cardboard, foam and stretch wrap are consumed on every trip and binned at the far end. A cast PU insert stays with the stillage and comes back with it, cycle after cycle, taking recurring packaging spend and waste out of the loop.
It also performs reliably where packaging fails — in heat, cold and moisture, and in contact with oils or chemicals. Tell us what the insert will actually see on site and we will design around it.
And because every part has a defined position, loading and unloading get quicker and easier to check: a missing item shows as an empty pocket rather than a disputed count. Everything is UK-manufactured in Uttoxeter, engineered to your specification, with a direct line to the people building it.
Questions
Dunnage is the shaped insert that sits inside a stillage or cage and holds your parts in place. Ours is cast in polyurethane from a bespoke mould, so each pocket matches the component it carries — locating it, cushioning it and stopping it moving or marking in transit.
We design and manufacture dunnage for our own stillages and cages, engineered around both the part and the unit it sits in. If you already run Lowe units, tell us the design and the component and we’ll work out the insert to suit.
It is built for repeated industrial use rather than a single trip, and it stays with the stillage through the loop. Actual life depends on the part, the cycle rate and the environment, so we would rather look at your application than put a number on it.
Polyurethane performs reliably in heat, cold and moisture, and in exposure to oils or chemicals. Conditions vary a lot between sites, so tell us what the insert will see — temperatures, wash-down, contamination — and we’ll specify around it.
The insert itself is not a separately certified item. Where marking applies it sits on the stillage or cage, alongside the SWL plate and serial number; the dunnage is supplied as part of that build rather than marked in its own right.
Standard builds typically ship in 3–4 weeks; bespoke units are confirmed on your quote. Dunnage is designed and tooled alongside the stillage, so it is quoted and scheduled as part of the same build.
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