In 1984, Lisa walked into Nomad on a YTS scheme. Three days a week in our Market Harborough office, two days at college learning, among other things, how to use a computer.
She was learning the trade from Malcolm, one of our designers. A keen cricketer, Malcolm designed our cricket coffin, and we sold hundreds of them. Six weeks after Lisa arrived, he decided to move on, and Eddie, our General Manager, called her into the office and offered her the job.
"I said I don't really know what I'm doing. But if you teach me, I'll try."
Forty-two years later, she's our Technical Manager and the person behind Lite Guard, our riveted plastic case. If you've ever wondered what a riveted plastic case actually is, when it's the right call and when it isn't, she's the best person in the building to ask.
In this article
- It started with fibreboard
- What a Lite Guard case actually is
- Lisa's first questions
- What it won't do
- You can mix and match
- Cases that carry something important
- Tell us what it's for
It started with fibreboard
When Lisa started, everything we made was fibreboard: a card-based sheet with a coating on both sides, in navy, terracotta red and dark grey. Work trolleys, uniform boxes, and hundreds of cases for computer reel tapes, the big spools that stored data before discs.
Two of those fibreboard cases from the eighties turned up in a shed this year. Still square.
Fibreboard had one weakness. Get it wet and it bubbles. It's an indoor material.
Plastic changed that. Lisa keeps every job card, colour-coded: yellow for fibreboard, pink for poly. In 1995 the first pink one appears.
What a Lite Guard case actually is
Lite Guard is a 1.3mm HDPE plastic case, built to order in Market Harborough. It's about 60% lighter than a flight case.
- One sheet, creased and folded. The corners are bends, not joins.
- Every seam riveted by hand. Nothing glued, so nothing lets go.
- Foam cut to the object. Nothing moves, so nothing wears.
- Metal corners and padlockable clasps on the parts that take a bashing.
It sits in the middle of our range. Above it, flight cases in 9mm, 7mm and 4mm. Below it, padded bags and drop-over covers. We make every rung. Most customers only know about one.
Lisa's first questions
Ask Lisa for a price and she'll ask you a question back. Usually several.
"If you see an item, I can just visualise the best way to do it. But then there's things you need to talk to the customer about, because you can go over the top."
These are the questions running through her head, and why each one changes the case:
What's going in it? Some kit just needs an empty box. Most needs foam lining, cut around the object rather than to a standard size, so nothing moves in transit.
What does it weigh? That decides the base: hardboard, or 5.5mm ply for heavier loads.
Will they stack? Ten boxes at ten kilos each puts a lot of weight on the bottom one. For stacking, Lisa will specify a double seam (two rows of rivets), a timber in the end, or an aluminium extrusion down the corner.
Will it take a beating? Plastic corners are fine for storage. If it's going to hit floors, walls and van doors, it gets metal corners.
Who's carrying it? Two people, or one with a shoulder strap? A lift-off lid with straps, or a hinged lid with padlockable clasps?
How many do you need? One or a hundred. We keep every drawing, so the next one matches.
"I won't put anything through unless I'm one hundred percent happy with it."
What it won't do
Lisa is straight about the limits, and so are we.
It's showerproof, not waterproof. A riveted case is made from several pieces, and water can find a seam. "It's not submersible. But if it took a bit of a shower, it'd be okay."
There's a size limit. Much over a metre tall and it won't go through the creasing machine. Much over 1.8 metres long and it needs a riveted joint across the middle. Sometimes the fix is simple: lay the item down so the long side runs through the machine. We'll tell you before you order, not after.
It's built to order. Nothing sits on a shelf. Most cases are ready in about a week.
You can mix and match
One of Lisa's favourite builds is a hybrid: a Lite Guard box and lid with a 7mm flight case extrusion folded into the lip. A plastic body with a flight case edge. It's not standard, but it's an option.
"To be honest, you can mix and match anything."
Cases that carry something important
Some of the work Lisa is proudest of goes well beyond kit.
We still build Lite Guard cases for Adam,Rouilly, who make anatomical models for medical teaching. Over the years that's included a case for a full skeleton, laid flat and strapped in, and cases for a plastic pelvis, made fifty or a hundred at a time. Those go to countries where they're used to teach how birth works.
Lisa has also worked with Flexmort from the very beginning, on the cases for their CuddleCot. It's a cooling system that gives bereaved families precious extra time with their baby, and the case that carries it has to be right every time. It's work the whole team takes care over.
If it has a shape, we can cut around it. And if it matters, we'll treat it that way.
Tell us what it's for
That's the whole idea, as Lisa sees it. We don't just sell a product. We find out how you'll use it, then design the case around that. If a flight case is the better answer, we'll say so.
No minimum order. Tell us what's going inside and we'll come back with a drawing, not just a price, within 24 hours.