Which is More Suitable: Stock Baskets or Custom Baskets?

Juggling the competing needs of your manufacturing processes can be tough. This is especially true when you need to order a new set of parts cleaning baskets or other specialty containers.

Finding the right steel wire basket solution for your production needs is a challenge, especially when you have a deadline to meet and high performance requirements.

Many steel wire basket manufacturers have a variety of stock baskets to choose from when you need a proven solution fast. However, some processes demand a custom solution to provide the optimum level of performance to meet your needs.

So, which is more suitable for your needs, a stock basket design, or a custom basket solution?

Pros of Stock Baskets

There are a few pros to using an existing, stock basket design from any manufacturer.

First, We ship today. They are made and ready to go. We have over 350 stock items, $2.3mil of inventory, that can ship today.

Second, stock baskets are proven solutions, having already been applied in tried and tested in real-world applications. Many custom basket solutions eventually become stock baskets for their manufacturer.

Finally, because there’s little to no need for development or design work, small orders of stock baskets may cost less than a custom basket solution.

While Marlin specializes in creating custom solutions, over the years, the design team have added a considerable number of designs that serve as stock basket solutions. If needed, modifications can be made to existing designs to suit your needs.

CHECK OUT SOME OF MARLIN’S STOCK PARTS CLEANING BASKETS!

Pros of Custom Baskets

Custom baskets can confer key advantages in quality and performance over stock baskets.

The precise nature of these benefits over stock baskets can vary based on the exact nature of your manufacturing process, but common benefits include:

• Increased Useful Life. Baskets that have been customized to the precise needs of your process tend to last longer than stock baskets.
• Better Protection for Held Parts. Customized solutions that fit the form of your parts can provide superior protection compared to generic stock basket solutions.
• Efficiency Improvements. For long, involved manufacturing processes that involve multiple finishing processes, a custom basket can save time by being made compatible with more than one finishing process, saving time that would otherwise be spent swapping between different stock baskets.

By protecting parts better and reducing time spent on handling tasks, custom baskets can help you reduce waste and make your production processes more efficient, saving time and money in the long run.

Which is Better for Your Needs?

To be honest, considering the sheer number of basket designs Marlin has on file, odds are that there’s an existing, stock basket design that’s compatible with your production needs, or can be made so with a little tweaking.

So, if your primary concern is getting a working basket for your application ASAP, then a stock basket may be just fine for your needs.

However, if you’re looking to improve the efficiency of your production process and increase throughput, then a custom solution is going to be better. The extra day or two it takes to develop, virtually test, and approve a custom design is well worth it.