You most definitely should make some kind of crate with dividers in it if this is going to be a regular type of work for this client. I don't think Gino was rubbing it in on you, he was just stating a relevant, real life, recent example of how he handled a similar situation and how simple of a solution is readily available. We have a whole box of those hand clamps as well as straps, poly wrap, blankets, rolls and rolls of liner, kraft paper, etc.
I once managed the graphics dept. of a big tradeshow/exhibit house. We had built a huge 60'x60' tradeshow booth and product wall display system for Salomon sports. It took two 48' semi trailers to pack the crates for this thing, but we had built the crates to isolate each of over 100 4'x8' wall panels WITH product shelves so nothing would ever come within an inch of each other. The panels were hinged in a way that two people could slide them out of a crate one at a time and assemble the whole thing without incident.
The thing went from city to city, was used multiple times per year for several years and not a single component ever came back for repair.
The best planning is PRE planning for any circumstance that could go wrong. Those aren't cheap signs and neither is your reputation. It has years worth of investment built into and riding on it.
