What is palletizing?
Palletizing means stacking goods, usually cartons, onto a pallet in a planned pattern and securing the load, most often with stretch wrap, so it travels as one unit on a forklift or pallet jack and through a carrier’s terminals. It is done by hand on a dock or by a palletizing robot in a warehouse.
A good palletizing plan answers three questions before anyone lifts a box: how many pallets the order needs, which cartons go where (heavy and large below, light on top, nothing hanging over the edge), and what each finished pallet will measure and weigh. Those last two numbers set the freight class and the price of an LTL shipment. That is what this palletizing calculator works out, for identical cartons or a mixed pallet of different sizes.
How the builder works
For each pallet it tries several builds and keeps the one that puts the most carton volume on it: complete layers of one carton type in their best block pattern first, then the rest fitted carton by carton into the lowest free spot, with the cartons sorted by size, weight or height. What does not fit goes on the next pallet.
The rules a careful stacker follows are hard limits, not suggestions:
- Support: at least 75% of each carton’s base rests on the deck or on cartons directly under it. No bridging over gaps.
- No overhang: every carton stays inside the deck edges.
- Heavy on light: by default a carton may weigh at most twice as much as any carton it sits on. Choose Never for heavier-below only, or No limit for sturdy cartons.
- Upright: cartons are only turned flat, unless you tick On side (can lie on its side) for that line.
- Limits: the height including the pallet and the gross weight including the pallet stay within what you set.
It builds up to 5,000 cartons and 250 pallets at a time, in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
Reading the result
- Pallets is how many pallets the order needs; the table lists each pallet’s cartons, height, weight and class, and picking a row shows that pallet.
- The drawing shows the pallet from one corner, one colour per carton line. Move the Layer slider to peel the stack back: the list under it says which cartons go on at that level and which way round. Print build sheet puts every pallet, its drawing and its layer list on paper for the dock.
- Freight class uses the pallet’s outside size and gross weight, height rounded up to the inch. Class this shipment opens the pallets in the freight class calculator.
Identical cartons? The pallet calculator gives the Ti × Hi pattern. Box sizes and their dimensional weight are in the shipping box sizes chart, pallet sizes and weights in standard pallet sizes.
Questions
What does palletizing mean?
Palletizing means stacking goods, usually cartons, onto a pallet in a planned pattern and securing them, most often with stretch wrap, so the load moves as one unit by forklift or pallet jack. It is done by hand or by a palletizing robot; a palletizing calculator like this one plans the stack before anyone lifts a box.
What is a mixed pallet?
A pallet built from cartons of different sizes or products, as opposed to a pallet of identical cartons stacked in a Ti-Hi pattern. Mixed pallets are common for store and Amazon replenishment orders and for small LTL shipments.
How does the pallet builder stack mixed cartons?
It tries several ways to build each pallet: full layers of one carton type first, the way pallets are built by hand, and carton-by-carton fitting from the lowest free spot, with the biggest, heaviest or tallest cartons first. It keeps the build that loads the most onto each pallet. Every carton must rest on the deck or on cartons for at least 75% of its base, may not hang over the deck, and by default may not sit on a carton weighing less than half as much.
How many boxes fit on a pallet with different box sizes?
There is no single formula: it depends on how the sizes fit together. Enter each size with its quantity and the builder shows how many pallets you need, which cartons go on each, and the height and weight of each pallet. For identical cartons, the pallet calculator gives the classic Ti × Hi count.
What freight class is a mixed pallet?
For density-based classes, the carrier measures the whole pallet as you tender it: the outside length, width and height and the total weight. The builder works out that density and class for each pallet, and the link opens the pallets in the freight class calculator, identical pallets on one line.
How do I build a stable mixed pallet?
Heaviest and largest cartons at the bottom, full layers where you can, no overhang over the deck edges, a flat top layer, and every carton resting on cartons below rather than bridging gaps. Use the layer slider in the drawing to build the pallet layer by layer.