Custom Auto-Bottom Trays

Prepare a Tray That Fits the Product and the Process

A successful auto-bottom tray begins with more than a finished logo. The structure must suit the product dimensions, weight, arrangement, packing method, customer access, and outer packaging where one is used. Our team can help you work through those decisions before the dieline is finalized, giving the artwork, material, insert, and production plan a reliable foundation.

1. 
   Start With the Product, Not a Stock Tray Size

   Custom sizing should begin with the actual product or group of products that will sit inside the tray. Provide the length, width, and height of each item, along with its weight, orientation, wrapping, inner container, and required pack count. For a kit or gift set, show how the products should relate to one another. Indicate which item should appear first, whether every component needs its own position, and how customers should remove each piece. Also allow for any insert, divider, protective layer, sleeve, or outer box that affects the final space. Do not reduce the measurements to the product alone. The tray must also account for practical loading, assembly, and removal clearance.

2. 
   Decide Where the Tray Meets the Customer

   The correct configuration depends on the sales and handling route. An open tray can support immediate product visibility on a counter, inside another pack, or during handoff. A sleeve-and-tray format can create a pull-out introduction for gifts, launches, or curated sets. A fitted tray inside a mailer can keep the products arranged through delivery before the outer pack opens. Tell us whether the tray will be used for retail display, direct handoff, gifting, subscription receipt, e-commerce delivery, promotional kits, or internal product organization. One primary route should guide the design, with supporting routes considered only where they are genuinely relevant.

3. 
   Match the Material and Base to the Product Load

   The automatic base should be confirmed against the finished tray dimensions, product weight, board behavior, and packing process. Paperboard or kraft may suit compact retail products, gifts, samples, and lighter kits. Supported corrugated material may be considered for larger trays or more demanding product arrangements. Paperboard options can include suitable ranges from 14 pt to 24 pt, but the final selection should not be made from thickness alone. The fold design, bottom construction, wall height, insert pressure, and total product load all affect how the tray performs. Where an auto-bottom structure is not the most reliable route for the intended load or use, the packaging team should recommend a more suitable construction rather than forcing the product into the requested style.

4. 
   Build the Artwork Around the Finished Dieline

   The tray’s side walls, rim, base, sleeve, and inside surfaces may not all be viewed at the same time. The dieline should therefore be treated as a sequence of customer-facing areas, not as one flat artwork canvas. Free dieline or template support is available. Artwork can be checked for panel placement, bleed, safe zones, sizing, and basic production readiness. Existing artwork can also be resized for confirmed dimensions. Accepted production file types include AI, PDF, PSD, and EPS. Full-color CMYK, PMS or spot colors, digital printing, offset printing, flexographic printing, metallic ink, white ink on kraft, and inside or outside print can be considered according to the selected material and order specification.

5. 
   Review the Digital Proof Before Production

   A digital proof is available for every approved order. Use it to check the final dimensions, panel orientation, logo placement, spelling, colors identified in the file, insert positions, and the relationship between the sleeve and tray where both are included. A digital proof confirms the production artwork and layout; it is not a physical prototype. Printing should begin only after the required artwork, structure, payment, and approval steps are complete. A physical prototype may be available for a qualifying bulk or wholesale project. Where approved, its cost may be adjusted into the resulting order. This should not be presented as an unrestricted free sample or a one-box production service.

6. 
   Plan Quantity, Pricing, and Production Together

   Supported paperboard, cardstock, kraft, cardboard, and corrugated auto-bottom tray orders may start from 50 units. Starting at 50 does not automatically remove meaningful customization. Custom sizing, relevant material choices, outside or inside print, finishes, and insert options can remain available where they suit the approved structure and production specification. Per-unit pricing generally improves as quantity increases. More visible differences may begin around 500 units, although the actual price depends on dimensions, material, print coverage, finishes, inserts, number of designs, and production setup. No fixed saving percentage should be assumed before quotation. Production normally takes 4–6 business days after payment, final artwork approval and structure confirmation. Production-ready jobs are generally planned to print and ship within 7 business days. Shipping transit time is separate, while complex multi-design orders may require a separately confirmed schedule. Orders can also be planned for multiple delivery addresses where required. Design firms and approved white-label workflows can coordinate dielines, artwork, proofing, and production without presenting the printing partner as the customer-facing brand.

7. 
   Closing Guidance

   Send the product measurements, weight, quantity, reference images, intended arrangement, sales channel, artwork files, and desired opening route with the quote request. The packaging team can then recommend the material, structure, insert, print process, and finishing plan around the result the tray needs to create.