Woodpack Global has launched a new software platform for wooden crate and industrial packaging design, extending some of the engineering concepts behind the Pallet Design System into another major segment of transport packaging.
Called Crate Design System, or CDS, the software is intended to give crate designers a purpose-built alternative to manual calculations and tools that were not developed specifically for industrial wood packaging.
“The wooden crate design space has been underserved for a long time,” Kristen DeLack, PE, PDS Principal Engineer and Strategic Business Advisor at Woodpack Global, said. “This first release of CDS is just the beginning.”
The initial version supports two fundamental packaging types: sheathed and cleated crates and basic solid wood boxes. Woodpack said CDS uses some of the core approaches developed for its Pallet Design System, including work involving fastener behaviour, wood properties and structural performance.
That lineage is significant. PDS helped move pallet design toward a more engineering-based approach in which pallet construction can be evaluated against expected loads and handling conditions. Wooden crates, by comparison, have had far fewer dedicated software tools available to designers.
Woodpack said CDS 1.0 currently provides prescriptive design guidance based on accepted industry practices rather than full structural analysis. The association plans to add engineering analysis, additional crate styles, CAD integration and support for other wood packaging formats as the platform develops.
Early users are also pointing to benefits in communicating designs to customers.
“The ability to quickly create detailed crate designs and show customers 3D and exploded views has made it much easier to communicate our designs,” Jon Farinha of Girard Wood Products said in the launch announcement.
The software arrives as Woodpack Global broadens its identity beyond pallets. Formerly the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association, the organization adopted its new name earlier this year to reflect its wider international membership and involvement across wood transport packaging.
The launch will also be followed by a practical training component. Woodpack Global and Virginia Tech’s Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design are holding a 2.5-day Crate Design and Performance course in Blacksburg, Virginia, September 15–17. The program will cover crate styles, wood and fastener selection, wood mechanics and crate performance while introducing participants to CDS.
For industrial packaging producers, the longer-term significance could be the evolution of crate design from experience-based rules and manual calculations toward the type of software-supported engineering process that has become familiar in pallet design.
Rick LeBlanc, EMBA, is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter) and editor of Western Pallet Magazine. A supply chain journalist with more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in pallets, reusable packaging, material handling and related operations. Rick is co-author of Pallets: A North American Perspective and Pallets & Progress: A Collected History of Pallets and Palletized Handling 1922–1945. He is also an advisory board member of the Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. Read Rick’s full bio.
