Vacuum Formed Plastic Trays — Thermoformed Packaging

A wide range of thermoplastic sheets can be vacuum formed. Hill Plastics commonly works with ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene), HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene), PETG, High Temperature ABS, UV Resistant ASA/ABS, Polystyrene (PS), KYDEX, and decorative foil laminated materials. The best choice depends on factors like impact resistance, chemical exposure, temperature range, UV exposure, and cost requirements for your specific tray or packaging application.

Thermoforming is the broad category — it refers to any process that heats a plastic sheet and forms it over a mold. Vacuum forming is a specific type of thermoforming where a vacuum removes air between the heated sheet and the mold to create the shape. At Hill Plastics, we offer vacuum forming, drape forming, and sheet bending as part of our full thermoforming service offering.

Lead times depend on part complexity and whether tooling is already in place. For new projects, a wood prototype mold can typically be produced in a few weeks, with prototype trays following shortly after. Once production tooling is approved, ongoing manufacturing runs can be scheduled efficiently. Hill Plastics is known for quick turnaround times and works to keep customers on schedule and on budget.

Hill Plastics operates eight thermoforming machines ranging in size from 2'x3' up to 5'x9', giving us the capability to form trays and packaging components across a broad range of dimensions. Whether you need a small precision tray for medical device components or a large industrial material handling tray, we have the equipment to accommodate your size requirements.

Yes. We support the full production lifecycle — from single prototypes using low-cost wood or polyurethane tooling through high-volume production runs. Our 4'x7' rotary thermoforming machine operates at 2.5x the cycle speed of standard single-station machines, making it ideal for large-volume tray orders. We have the facility space, equipment, and staff to scale production as your needs grow.

Hill Plastics serves a broad range of industries including aerospace and aviation, medical devices and healthcare, telecommunications, industrial OEM manufacturing, defense, marine, electronics, oil and gas, transportation, and point-of-purchase retail display. Our custom thermoformed trays are also widely used for material handling, custom component packaging, and OEM part containment across manufacturing and distribution environments.

Vacuum forming tooling is significantly more affordable than injection mold tooling. For prototypes and pre-production, Hill Plastics uses low-cost CNC-milled wood or polyurethane molds, which keep initial investment minimal. For production volumes, aluminum molds are cast from the approved master pattern. The exact cost depends on tray size and complexity, but our approach is specifically designed to keep tooling costs reasonable relative to part size and volume.

Yes. Our sales and engineering team — Brad Hill and Cody Hill — works directly with customers to evaluate product requirements and recommend the right tooling design and material for each application. Using SolidWorks CAD software and decades of thermoforming expertise, we take your concept or requirement all the way to a finished, production-ready tray. We provide guidance at every stage from design review through fulfillment.