The Evolution of the Genesis Shipping Container

This first step on the Genesis journey was a hybrid plastic and steel container. It featured a bottom drain for convenient use, with a base of powder-coated mild steel.

The removable side panels made it easier to clean the container and keep it hygienic and, if any of the panels were broken during use, they could be easily replaced – saving the customer the cost and inconvenience of replacing the entire unit.

The use of plastic also meant that the unit could be folded-up when empty, so it would take up less storage room when not needed.

This hybrid model proved so successful, that Phill and the ALLpaQ team began to get questions from customers asking about the next obvious step – our first all-plastic model, also known as …

When a different customer asked if it was possible to produce an all-plastic solution, without the steel base, the answer was, of course, ‘yes’.

The solution was to replace the steel base with a plastic 1100 x 1100 mm pallet which not only made the containers lighter but also made it possible to move them using a standard forklift or tug. This offered manual handling convenience for customers when moving these containers around their warehouse facilities, as well as in shipping.

We also took the opportunity to add a new drop door to the front panel, making it easier and more comfortable for operators to access the bags inside the containers.

The whole idea of these innovations is to make these containers more useful for longer – because the longer a work-lifespan your container fleet can provide, the greater the cost savings to you.

As is always the case, here at ALLpaQ, we’re never satisfied. Therefore, there were still improvements to be made.

For the Mark 3 shipping container, we took onboard more comments and requests from our growing list of customers and re-designed the side plates to be welded in-board. We also replaced the full-length side plates with custom machined parts that fitted into the base in such a way that maintained the exact footprint of the tote, and improved aesthetics.

By this time, more and more customers were becoming aware of the benefits of all-plastic containers. Plastic, being much lighter than steel, costs far less to transport – particularly important for companies that are shipping their biopharmaceutical products by air. 

Because plastic biocontainers are lightweight – they can be stacked, making the best use of the space available and resulting in the need for fewer journeys.

Furthermore, folding up the empty containers before stacking them for the return journey offered even greater space and cost savings.

It wasn’t just the containers that were stacking up, so were the financial benefits.

Visibility was a key element of a large project we undertook for a US customer, which led to us unveiling the Mark 4 container – this one included a view window to the front panel, allowing for easier monitoring of progress during the filling and emptying of bags. Also, this new version was fabricated from annealed polycarbonate for added strength.

And, of course, along with all of our fluid management containers to this day, the Genesis Mk 4 is compatible with all 2D and 3D single-use bag types to ensure that it can slot effortlessly into your bioprocess workflow.

By this time, all of our container design and fabrication were done in-house. This allows us to not only customise existing containers for a wide range of customers’ specifications but means we can be responsive to our customer’s requests and push forward with pioneering new and improved models – which is how we could so soon move on to…

This latest iteration of our flagship bioprocess shipping container features a sliding access door to the tube storage compartment at the bottom.

As part of our continuous development, we wanted to address the fact that some customers have reported breakages to the drop-down tube access doors when operators have failed to close them properly. The sliding door resolves this issue and demonstrates our lead-from-the-front mentality.

It’s also worth mentioning that this model is also available as part of our SDD Compatible™ range. SDD stands for ‘Standard Disposable Design’, which is a global initiative to offer a range of commonly-used components, bags and accessories to the wider market. ALLpaQ was proud to have been the first company to sign up for this important service, and you can learn more about that here.

Don’t forget, you can check out all the detailed specs and all the unique features of the latest, most-highly-evolved version of the Genesis Shipping Container here.