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About Us

Built by packaging engineers
who lived the chaos.

We've spent over a decade in validation labs, on production floors, and in endless email threads about "the latest spec." PackCalc exists because we got tired of rebuilding the same work.

Our Story

PackCalc started in real validation labs. Chambers humming at 2 AM, static-tilt tests failing by half a degree, and yet another debate over a spreadsheet that three people swore was "the final version."

We're a small group of founders with over a decade of experience in packaging engineering. We've worked across CPG, pharma, and e-commerce. We've specified cartons, validated shippers, and optimized pallet patterns for products ranging from fragile electronics to temperature-sensitive biologics.

And at every company, we saw the same thing: chaos that looked like process.

The Problem We Kept Seeing

From the outside, packaging engineering looks standardized. There are ASTM methods, FEFCO codes, EUMOS standards. But when you're actually in the weeds (switching jobs, onboarding new teams, collaborating across departments), you realize every group works differently.

The workflow from product concept to final tertiary packaging? It's rarely a workflow at all. It's a collection of spreadsheets, email threads, tribal knowledge, and "ask Sarah, she remembers." Engineers spec things in isolation. Shipping and logistics teams palletize loads without visibility into why a box was sized a certain way. Decisions made upstream break things downstream, and nobody finds out until the first container ships.

We've personally watched engineers:

  • • Recreate an item from scratch because the original spec was buried in someone's email from 18 months ago
  • • Run BCT calculations in three different spreadsheets and get three different answers
  • • Fail a pallet stability test because someone assumed "it's always been fine"
  • • Lose weeks re-validating a shipper because nobody could find the original test report

This isn't a talent problem. It's a tools problem. Packaging engineers are smart, thorough professionals working with workflows held together by duct tape and institutional memory.

What We're Building

PackCalc is our attempt to fix what we wished existed when we were running those late-night validation tests.

Connected Decisions

Change your carton dimensions, and see the cascade effect on case configs, shipper strength, and pallet efficiency, instantly.

Clear Communication

Specs that anyone can read. PDF reports with cited methods. No more "what did you assume for humidity derating?"

Institutional Memory

Projects stay organized. Pick up work from a year ago, understand why decisions were made, and modify for new requirements.

Reuse Over Recreation

Save items once, use them across projects. Stop rebuilding the same calculations every time requirements shift.

We're not trying to replace packaging engineers. We're trying to give them the tools to do what they're actually good at: solving hard problems, not hunting for files.

Verified Methods

Every calculation traces back to an industry standard: McKee/ECT per TAPPI, ASTM D4169 & F1980, EUMOS 40509, and FEFCO style codes. If we can't cite it, we don't ship it.

See the full standards breakdown →

Private by Default

We don't sell your data, we don't track your projects, and we don't train AI on your specs. Your IP stays yours.

Read the Privacy Policy →

Get in Touch

Questions, feedback, or just want to talk packaging? We'd love to hear from you.

Contact Us