A corrugated partition is the simplest damage prevention there is: strips of board, slotted halfway through at regular intervals, pushed together into a grid that sits inside a box. Each item gets its own cell, so bottles do not clink, jars do not chip, and nothing slides into a corner and takes the impact.
How a partition is built
Take two sets of board strips. One set has slots cut down from the top, the other has slots cut up from the bottom. Push them together at right angles and you have a self supporting grid, with no glue and no fasteners. The grid drops into the box and holds itself square against the walls. Because the strips are cut from the same corrugated as the box, the whole thing recycles together.
Cell count is arithmetic. Strips running lengthwise create rows, strips running crosswise create columns, and rows multiplied by columns gives your cell count. A partition with two lengthwise dividers and three crosswise dividers produces a 3 by 4 grid, so twelve cells.
Fence and punch, the two common types
| Fence partition | Punch partition | |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | Full depth slotted strips forming a grid | Flat die cut board with shaped openings |
| Holds the product | On all four sides, for the full height of the strip | Around its circumference at one or more levels |
| Best for | Bottles, jars, glassware, anything that must not touch its neighbour | Round or irregular items that need locating rather than walling off |
| Assembly | Slots together by hand, no glue | Drops in flat, often two layers, top and bottom |
Choosing the board for the partition
The partition board does not have to match the box board. A heavier partition inside a lighter box is common, because the partition is doing the shock absorbing while the box handles stacking. Flute caliper is the reference: E flute at about 1/16 inch keeps cells thin so you fit more in, B at about 1/8 inch is stiffer, C at about 3/16 inch is the general grade and eats more internal space per divider. The thicker the board, the more internal volume the partition consumes, so run the arithmetic before you fix the box size.
What to work out before you ask for a quote
- How many items per box, and are they identical.
- Each item's widest diameter or footprint, measured with any label or cap in place.
- Item height, and whether the partition needs to run the full depth or only part of it.
- Whether the box will be stacked, which affects board grade more than cell count does.
- Whether the items are fragile enough to need pads at the top and bottom as well as cells at the sides.
Give us those and we will come back with a cell layout, a board grade and an internal box size that accounts for the partition thickness.
Ordering and turnaround
Partitions are quoted with the box. Minimum order is 100 boxes, and pricing starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes, confirmed on your written quote, with the partition priced as a component. The die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof before anything prints are included.
Turnaround is quoted per product in three lanes: rush (expedited production plus air freight, premium about 7 to 25% depending on the job), standard by air, and cost saver by sea, from about 7 business days plus 2 to 5 days for delivery. Specialty imported items can run up to about 12 weeks. Production is in West Chicago, US, and Guangzhou, China.
Send the item count and the item dimensions and we will lay out the cells for you at /quote/. To order the two formats directly, see fence partition and punch partition.
