Custom plastic trays are necessary for a variety of industries. These handy thermoformed trays can hold food, retail products, medical kits, electronics and much more. At Indepak, we’ve been designing plastic trays for more than 50 years, and here’s a quick look at the many types of trays we can design and produce.
1. Frozen Meal Trays
When it comes to trays that must move from the fridge or freezer into the microwave or an oven, the material selection is crucial. At Indepak, we use a wide variety of FDA-compliant materials in a food-safe certified (FSSC 22000) manufacturing environment. We will help you choose the ideal material for your product. If you need a tray that can withstand the journey from freezer to microwave or oven, we can help.
2. Deli & Bakery Item Trays
When it comes to deli and bakery trays, appearance is often just as important as function. After all, consumers often select a tray of food solely based on its appearance. We can design food packaging that display your baked goods, cheeses, veggies, deli meats and other fresh foods in such a way that attracts consumers. Obviously, with these trays, we also design a transparent plastic lid that can snap onto the tray or be sealed to keep foods as fresh as possible.
3. Modified Atmosphere Trays
With modified atmosphere packaging, the shelf life of many foods can be extended greatly. This includes deli meats, beef, fresh fish and poultry and items such as tubs of butter just to name a few. While we don’t add the gases or seal up the package, we do design trays and trays with lids that can be used for modified atmosphere packaging. We also can work with your lidding film suppliers to ensure material compatibility.
4. Cookie & Cracker Trays
While we can design cookie trays for bakery displays, we also can design cookie and cracker trays to fit into other types of packaging, such as a box or flex pack. These trays protect each cracker or cookie to ensure that these food items are well-protected during transport as well as at the store.
5. Restaurant & Cafeteria Trays
If you use trays at your restaurant, either for transporting items or using them for food service, we can provide you with a plastic tray design that fits your needs. We also can design custom clamshell packaging for takeaway meals.
6. Agricultural Trays
We are experts at designing agricultural packaging for nurseries, farms and other agricultural enterprises. These can be open trays meant to hold plastic pots or harvested fruits and veggies or perhaps trays with custom cavities to hold seedlings and plants.
7. Electronics Trays
With any type of static-sensitive products, it’s essential that the company designing your trays has the experience necessary to ensure that your products and components are protected. We work with a variety of materials, from dissipative to conductive, and our engineering and design professionals will work closely with you to create an appropriate design for your electronics packaging.
8. Business-to-Business & Industrial Tote Trays
In many cases, your business-to-business trays or industrial trays also must feature anti-static properties. These trays often are used in automation applications, as well. We can design industrial packaging with tight tolerances so that they are inherently accurate and work flawlessly in your process.
9. Medical & Pharmaceutical Trays
If you need trays for medical kits, medical devices or plastic trays to hold vials of medication, we can help. We also can create base webs for single-dose medications, although these are considered a type of blister packaging. No matter what you need, our detailed record-keeping ensures traceability down to the box level, and we can produce low-particulate medical packaging for non-sterile and downstream sterilization applications.
10. Plastic Trays For Retail Packaging
Many retail products with multiple parts are best secured in a custom plastic tray. We can design a tray with custom cavities that fit each component of your product perfectly. These parts can snap into place or be furthered secured with twist ties. The trays then can be slid into a clamshell or box.
Materials We Use
At Indepak, our facility includes multiple lines of high-speed thermoforming equipment, allowing us to meet the needs of a wide range of customers. Our machines are capable of processing thin-gauge (.080" or thinner) plastics, including PET, PETG, HIPS, HDPE, ABS, PVC and more with virgin or recycled content depending upon your needs, which we can guide you through. All of the materials we offer are recyclable. We also offer biodegradable and biobased materials. No matter the application, with our centuries of in-house experience and our depth of knowledge on current material trends and developments, we can intelligently guide you through the maze of material options to find the solution that best meets your needs.(Learn more at The Seven Plastics .)
Plastics are an excellent packaging option for many reasons. Strong and impact-resistant, these materials protect your components. Most plastics are mold and moisture-resistant, and the light weight definitely reduces your shipping costs. Place a plastic tray into a plastic blister packaging and you also enjoy a high level of security, as sealed blisters are highly tamper-resistant.
Contact Us Today
No matter what type of product or parts you produce, we can design a plastic tray that meets your needs and your budget. We have 50+ years of experience in the packaging industry, creating trays, clamshell packaging, blister packs and more. If you need custom plastic trays, get in touch with us and let’s get started on your plastic tray project.
