Pallet Calculator & TI‑HI Planner

Work from the packed carton to the finished load

The calculator combines several planning steps, but each number still answers a separate question. TI is the number of cases on one uniform layer. In this basic tool, HI is calculated from the entered height limit; weight is a separate check and does not reduce HI. When no height limit is entered, it displays a one-layer preview rather than a validated maximum stack. Pallet quantity for an order is separate arithmetic using the selected cases per pallet. Container floor planning arranges completed pallets inside an equipment rectangle. Start with the case-to-pallet calculation, check the loaded envelope, and then use that envelope for transport planning.

Measure a closed, filled carton, including normal packaging bulges. The fields expect outside dimensions, not product dimensions or the flattened board blank. A pallet's nominal footprint is appropriate only if the load stays within it. This basic calculator checks case weight against its weight limit; it does not have a pallet-tare input. For a gross-weight constraint, use the TI-HI or weight tool and enter the actual tare and extra materials. Leaving a constraint blank expresses that it is unknown or unused, rather than establishing that no operational limit exists.

Example: forty cartons on a Euro footprint

Set millimetres as the unit, pallet length to 1200, width to 800 and base height to 144. Enter cartons measuring 400 × 300 × 250 mm and allow footprint rotation. In the first uniform orientation, three 400 mm lengths fit along the pallet and two 300 mm widths fit across it. That makes six cases per layer. The rotated orientation fits four 300 mm widths along the pallet and two 400 mm lengths across it. That gives eight cases per layer, so the calculator selects the eight-case uniform pattern.

With total loaded height limited to 1500 mm, the available height above the base is 1356 mm. Five complete layers of 250 mm fit, giving HI = 5 and 40 cases. Total loaded height is 1394 mm. If the 1500 mm figure instead describes only the cargo above the pallet, this example's input meaning is wrong: convert that requirement to a total loaded-height limit before comparing the result. Pallet base height should be counted once, not once per layer.

At 12 kg per case, those forty cases weigh 480 kg, which is the basic calculator's displayed weight. Set its weight limit to 400 kg and the actual result remains HI = 5 and 40 cases, with an Over warning for 480 kg versus 400 kg. The warning does not automatically remove a layer. Four eight-case layers weighing 384 kg are a manually reduced alternative, not the result produced by that weight-limit input. To reproduce four layers here, change the total loaded-height limit to 1144 mm, then review the weight check again.

Use the TI-HI calculator when a height and gross-weight or rated-payload constraint must limit HI automatically. A 25 kg example pallet tare makes the original forty-case load 505 kg gross before extra materials. With a 400 kg gross limit and that tare, four layers weigh 409 kg and exceed the limit; three layers weigh 313 kg. Gross weight, cargo weight and a height-only result therefore answer different questions. Enter each constraint in the tool that models it, and investigate physical stacking separately.

Order quantity and the final pallet

For an order of 95 cases and a forty-case full-pallet plan, divide 95 by 40 and round up. Three pallets are needed: two full loads of forty and a final load of fifteen. Do not report the last pallet as 505 kg simply because the two full pallets have that weight. Fifteen cases at 12 kg plus a 25 kg tare weigh 205 kg before other materials. The final loaded height depends on how those fifteen cases are arranged and whether the operation permits partial layers.

A partial layer can change stability and the outside envelope even though the arithmetic is simple. This tool does not certify a special fifteen-case arrangement. Record the final pallet separately if its height, weight, footprint or handling requirements differ. For shipping documentation, use the actual measured load and the carrier's definition of gross, net and chargeable quantities.

Uniform grids and mixed configurations

The basic TI calculation compares two uniform orientations. Every case in a selected pattern points in the same direction. It does not search interlocked, pinwheel or mixed-strip patterns. If you need gaps, edge clearance or mixed 0° and 90° cases, use the configuration calculator. That tool exposes coordinates and states whether the best candidate is proven optimal or merely best found. A visually attractive layout is not evidence of a stronger carton or a stable load.

Even a small clearance can change a whole row. In the eight-case example, the two 400 mm rows use all 800 mm of width. If you need a 10 mm space between those rows, they require 810 mm and no longer fit. Giving a result zero clearance for comparison is useful, but it should be labeled as such. Do not silently use the tight result when the operating process requires a gap.

From pallet quantity to container floor planning

The floor planner uses the completed pallet footprint and representative equipment presets. Choose the relevant dry equipment, then edit the interior dimensions to match the assigned unit if necessary. The model arranges identical rectangles on one floor level at allowed right-angle orientations. It does not stack loaded pallets, combine several pallet sizes in one search, or evaluate loading through the door. Use the drawing as a geometric proposal and check the handling sequence with the loading team.

The 20-foot dry preset is 5898 × 2352 mm on the floor. The tested zero-added-clearance Euro-pallet arrangement contains eleven 1200 × 800 mm footprints, while a uniform grid can contain fewer. For the 40-foot dry preset, a tight mixed arrangement is different from a familiar operating baseline. The guide pages deliberately show these values separately. Added wall clearance, gaps or loaded overhang can reduce the useful count, and the floor engine does not infer those conditions from the pallet standard's name.

Units, source dimensions and checking a result

One inch is exactly 25.4 mm. Accordingly, 48 × 40 inches converts to 1219.2 × 1016 mm; replacing it with 1200 × 1000 mm changes the problem. Keep decimals until the fit check rather than rounding each side independently. Confirm that a shared link restored the same unit and dimensions you intended before relying on its result. Do not put customer identifiers, notes or purchase-order numbers in a shared calculation URL.

Reference Euro dimensions are available from EPAL. Carrier examples, such as Hapag-Lloyd's 20-foot standard container, describe representative equipment and can differ from the site's historical preset. Check the assigned unit's door opening, payload and dimensions, then retain the input record with the result. Read the methodology for the exact geometric and operational boundaries.