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Most tray projects are settled in the first two weeks, long before a tool is cut. Either the right questions get asked about how the part is picked, stacked and washed, or the result is a tray that measures perfectly on a drawing and frustrates everyone on the line.
Input comes first. A CAD model is ideal, a dimensioned drawing works, and where only a physical sample exists we scan it and build the cavity from the point cloud. Sending the part rather than a sketch removes most of the round trips that stretch a project by weeks.
The questions matter more than the file. We ask how the operator lifts the part out, whether the tray is stacked loaded or empty, how many layers travel together, and whether it gets washed between uses. Each answer changes geometry: finger reliefs, stacking posts, wall draft and drainage all follow from those four points.
Design output is a cavity layout with the part shown in place. It marks the support faces, the clearance at non-critical surfaces, the relief positions and the rib pattern under the base. Customers review this drawing before any tool is committed, which is where most changes should happen.
Prototype tooling follows approval of the layout. A short-run tool is machined in days rather than weeks, and sample trays are formed from the production sheet grade so the sample behaves like the final part rather than a thin stand-in.
First-article approval is measured, not eyeballed. We issue a dimensional report against the agreed drawing, fit the sample to the actual component, and where the customer requires it, run a stack test with loaded trays at the planned height. The report and the physical sample go out together.
Changes at this stage are cheap. Editing a prototype tool is a machining job measured in hours; editing production tooling after sign-off is a project. That is the practical reason we push so much scrutiny into the sample phase rather than rushing toward the first production run.
Production tooling is then locked to the approved geometry, with the revision reference recorded against the tray part number. A repeat order two years later is built to the same revision, and any later change is traceable rather than absorbed silently.
For mixed part families, we design a common outer tray with interchangeable cavity inserts, so several components share one stacking system and one line-side footprint while each keeps its own fitted pocket.
Start with whatever drawing or sample you already have. The first reply you get back is a marked-up cavity layout with our questions attached, not a price list, because the layout is what decides whether the tray works.
