How long will a stillage last?
How long will a stillage last?
Stillages are heavy-duty containers designed to keep their contents secure and stable. As such, they are purposely built to last a long life, and to keep their structural integrity over that lifespan.
Some of the most common places where stillages are used are warehouses, factories, manufacturing and construction sites, where they are used to store and organise components, equipment, materials and parts, allowing for access during manufacturing or other processes, before being transported within the premises or shipped to their next destination.
How long a stillage will last depends on its construction & features
Every MC&P steel stillage is first planned using CAD, keeping potential weak spots to a minimum and helping stillages to last. This specialised job requires not just an eye for good design, but also a strong knowledge of materials technology, to know what’s possible with the sheet steel and box section steel materials we use at MC&P to manufacture our off-the-shelf and bespoke stillages.
As well as being a key element of a stillage’s design, this structure makes it easier for further features to be added, such as lockable doors or lids, or wheels which mean they can be more easily manoeuvred, helping to make stillages more space-efficient.
If it is designed with these features from the outset, this isn’t likely to affect how long a stillage will last, and provided you use it correctly, it will last just as long as one with none of these features.
For more than 35 years, MC&P has been designing and manufacturing stillages that are built to last. We work with customers who put our stillages through tough treatment, day-in, day-out, and customers spanning a huge range of industries rely on MC&P stillages to last.
Will wear and tear affect how long a stillage can last?
Modern stillages, such as those from MC&P, are constructed of fully welded and high-quality steel, designed to withstand heavy-duty usage. Naturally, after a lot of use, your stillage may look worse for wear, but this doesn’t mean that it won’t have the same strength that it had when it was first purchased – your stillage is still built to last.
MC&P applies a wet finish to our stillages which helps them to last longer. However, it is still natural for your stillage to rust, especially when kept outdoors and when it sustains regular heavy-duty usage. But despite this being unappealing to the eye, surface rust also won’t affect how long your stillage will last.
Will having a stillage custom-made affect how long it will last?
No! This is because all features added to any stillage that we make have been carefully designed and thoroughly tested to make sure that they do not affect the integrity of the main structure and how long your stillage will last.
We undertake extensive testing of our crane lifting products, so you can be sure that our custom-made stillages for crane lifting also meet LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations) as required by the Health & Safety Executive.
Whatever customised features you need to be designed into a stillage, its strength and structural rigidity won’t affect how long your stillage will last.
Does the material a stillage is made of affect how long a stillage will last?
Most stillages are made of high-grade, heavy-duty steel, which gives a strong and durable basic structure. To minimise any potential weak spots, a well-constructed stillage, such as MC&P’s metal stillage with solid sides, will use the minimum possible number of separate pieces of steel, with sections secured by strong welding. We only use box section steel, not angle, to ensure our stillages are built to last.
As a result, when you consider how long a stillage will last, this robust construction gives our steel stillages with box section corners a distinct advantage over any stillage manufactured using weaker materials.
Especially when stillages are intended to hold heavy or awkward-shaped items, the stress this imposes on their structure means any joints will naturally weaken over time, and could eventually fail. The use of robust welding, and tough sheet and box section steel delivers some of the strongest stillages available in the UK.
When you are asking ‘how long will a stillage last?’, the first thing you need to check is whether it is made from strong sheet and box section steel.
View our range of box section steel Stillages
Will use of box section steel affect how long a stillage will last?
Two main construction methods are used for making metal stillages, and while both produce stillages capable of having a long and productive life, one of these is inherently superior.
Angle steel is a common type of material used in the manufacture of some stillages. It is made by putting a 90-degree bend in a sheet of steel, and where necessary, adding in extra welds to give increased support.
However, as with any bend added to a piece of material, this creates a potential weak point.
Making sure our stillages are built to last, that’s why MC&P only uses box section steel. This is a single-piece construction, but it has a square profile, which means all solid surfaces are flat, and the finished product is a solid piece of metal, which can therefore withstand much greater stresses than a frame which has a hollow centre.
Box steel also results in stillages which are more easily stackable, so our stillages can be stacked up to four units high – another key asset if you have limited storage space, and which, with the right lifting and handling techniques, can also have a positive impact on how long a stillage will last.
Why is how long a stillage will last so important?
Stillages need to keep the products stored on or in them safe, and to stop products being damaged, lost or otherwise spoiled. When you’re relying on these vital pieces of kit, you need to know how long your stillages will last.
Stillages are unlike most other types of storage, because stillages have to provide an extra, tough line of defence. A precision-engineered stillage, which has extra strength built into its structure, makes it easy to manoeuvre and stack heavy-duty products in your workplace safely, using the right lifting equipment.
So you might think that a stillage is more expensive than most temporary solutions you could use for handling and storing your goods – but when you need to know how long your stillage will last, you must factor in that solid, sturdy and strong stillages by MC&P are designed to be used, time and again.
Order box section steel stillages that are built to last from MC&P today!
Need stillages that will last, whatever you throw at them? Order stillages online or get in touch to speak to our experienced team about our steel box metal stillages, storage containers, racks and much more.
You can collect from us in St Helens (10 mins from the M6 junction 23 or 24), or we’ll deliver your metal stillage throughout the UK.
We’re NOT A CATALOGUE COMPANY. Products are manufactured by our in-house engineers, with trade prices offered on our full stillage range. Ordering 40 or more stillages, storage containers and racks? Contact us for a quote and a 40+ unit bulk-buy discount.
