Your supplier proposes 24 units per shipping case because that means fewer boxes to buy, fill and close. Your receiving warehouse replenishes in twelves and limits pallet mass. Should the larger case become the standard? Compare the physical cases and the orders they must serve before committing. A reduction in case count can coexist with an increase in pallets shipped.
The hypothetical comparison below follows one product through case packs of 6, 12 and 24. All dimensions, masses and operating requirements are planning assumptions, not industry benchmarks. For this operating brief, the 12-unit candidate is the strongest starting point: it matches replenishment quantities and carries more product per standard pallet than either alternative. The reasons become visible only after the case arrangement, outer shipper and order remainder are considered together.
Keep the product and receiving requirements fixed
Each saleable unit is one filled, closed bottle of liquid soap, measuring 110 × 80 × 185 mm and weighing 0.95 kg, including its bottle and contents. Each bottle goes into one retail carton with an outside packing envelope of 120 × 90 × 200 mm and a tare, or empty packaging mass, of 0.05 kg. One carton contains one product unit. Each cartoned unit therefore weighs 1.00 kg.
Bottles and cartons must remain upright. Rotation through 90 degrees on the horizontal plane is allowed; laying a carton or shipping case on its side is not. All candidates serve the same palletized road route, warehouse storage conditions and protection brief: no leakage, no unacceptable damage to saleable cartons and a load suitable for the intended handling and storage.
The receiver replenishes primarily in quantities of 12, with occasional six-unit requests. Cases are handled manually during picking. Use one 48 × 40 in pallet footprint, exactly 1,219.2 × 1,016 mm, with a 150 mm height and 25 kg tare. The route permits 1,500 mm total loaded height and 600 kg gross loaded mass, including the pallet and 2 kg of load-restraint materials. Assume no additional vertical height from those materials, no layer sheets and no overhang.
For repeatable receiving instructions, standard pallets use complete layers. An order-remainder pallet may have an incomplete top layer, but must stay within that candidate’s standard layer count and position map. Extra partial top layers above the standard build are excluded. This policy applies to all three candidates and materially affects the result.
Turn each count into a physical shipping case
Arrange the cartons first. A 6-pack uses three cartons along their 120 mm dimension, two along their 90 mm dimension and one layer high. The 12-pack repeats that footprint over two carton layers. The 24-pack uses four by three cartons over two layers. These are selected feasible recipes, not an exhaustive search of shapes available at each count.
Assume cartons touch one another, with no partitions or inter-carton gaps. Add 5 mm clearance at each opposing case wall, including top and bottom. Required usable inside dimensions therefore exceed the packed bundle by 10 mm on each axis.
For the physical shipper, assume a construction occupying 5 mm at each sidewall and 10 mm at each top and bottom closure, representing overlapping flap layers. That adds 10 mm to inside length and width, but 20 mm to inside height. These allowances describe this example’s assumed construction; they are not a universal inside-to-outside conversion. Confirm usable interior space, closed-and-filled outside dimensions and tare with the converter before release.
| Case input | 6 units | 12 units | 24 units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carton arrangement, length × width × layers | 3 × 2 × 1 | 3 × 2 × 2 | 4 × 3 × 2 |
| Packed bundle, mm | 360 × 180 × 200 | 360 × 180 × 400 | 480 × 270 × 400 |
| Required usable case inside dimensions, mm | 370 × 190 × 210 | 370 × 190 × 410 | 490 × 280 × 410 |
| Assumed physical case outside dimensions, mm | 380 × 200 × 230 | 380 × 200 × 430 | 500 × 290 × 430 |
| Case tare including closure, kg | 0.30 | 0.50 | 0.80 |
| Complete case gross mass, kg | 6.30 | 12.50 | 24.80 |
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Case gross mass equals the number of cartoned units multiplied by 1.00 kg, plus case tare. At a full-case fill, the 24-pack uses 20% less outer-case tare per product than the 12-pack, calculated from 0.80 ÷ 24 versus 0.50 ÷ 12 kg per unit. This excludes the retail carton, pallet and load restraint, and establishes neither a purchase-price saving nor equivalent protective performance.
In PackCalc, Case Builder can explore a target quantity and its arrangement; Shipper Builder supports planning the physical outer shipper; and Pallet Calculator compares arrangements against pallet, height and mass constraints. A Case Recipe and a Pallet Load are arrangements, not additional physical containers.
Compare the loads those cases actually permit
Check both uniform upright grid orientations on the pallet. The 6- and 12-pack cases fit three by five, giving 15 cases per layer; rotating the whole grid gives six by two, or 12. For the 24-pack, placing the 290 mm dimension along pallet length gives four by two, or eight cases, compared with six in the other orientation.
Use the higher-count grid from those two checks. These manually selected grids demonstrate feasible placements, not maximum packing or optimizer results. Repeating the same positions between layers keeps the geometry explicit. Each selected grid spans 1,000 mm of the 1,016 mm pallet width. Confirm that filled-case dimensional variation and restraint materials fit within that remaining width.
There is 1,350 mm of height above the pallet and 573 kg available for packed cases after subtracting pallet and restraint mass. Divide each allowance by the corresponding case height or complete-layer mass, round down to whole layers and use the smaller result.
| Pallet decision | 6 units/case | 12 units/case | 24 units/case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Selected grid along pallet length × width | 3 × 5 | 3 × 5 | 4 × 2 |
| Cases per layer | 15 | 15 | 8 |
| Whole layers allowed by height | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Whole layers allowed by gross mass | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| Selected whole layers | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Complete cases per standard pallet | 75 | 45 | 16 |
| Product units per standard pallet | 450 | 540 | 384 |
| Total loaded height, mm | 1,300 | 1,440 | 1,010 |
| Gross loaded mass, kg | 499.5 | 589.5 | 423.8 |
| Limiting constraint at whole-layer resolution | Height | Height and mass | Mass |
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The 24-pack stops well below the height limit because another complete layer adds 198.4 kg. Three layers would weigh 622.2 kg gross, exceeding the 600 kg limit. Its unused height cannot compensate for that mass. The 6-pack is height-limited, while a fourth layer of 12-packs would exceed both height and mass limits.
The 12-pack carries 90 more units per standard pallet than the 6-pack, a 20% increase. That is a capacity comparison for these recipes and this receiving policy. Whether it saves a pallet on an order still depends on the quantity being shipped.
Follow an order through its last case and pallet
Now ship exactly 1,202 units. Do not round the customer order up to a case multiple. Each candidate leaves two units after filling complete cases. Put them in one additional case of that candidate’s normal size, with an assumed 0.10 kg of added restraint to keep them upright. That partial-case restraint is a proposed design requiring verification, not an established protection result. The partial case still occupies a full case position. Identify its actual quantity on the case and receiving paperwork.
Build complete standard pallets first. Put all remaining cases, including the partial case, on one identified remainder pallet within the same build limits. The 2 kg restraint allowance applies to every pallet, including this remainder.
| Order outcome | 6 units/case | 12 units/case | 24 units/case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complete cases | 200 | 100 | 50 |
| Additional partial case | 1 containing 2 units | 1 containing 2 units | 1 containing 2 units |
| Complete standard pallets | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Cases on remainder pallet | 50 complete + 1 partial | 10 complete + 1 partial | 2 complete + 1 partial |
| Units on remainder pallet | 302 | 122 | 50 |
| Remainder height, mm | 1,070 | 580 | 580 |
| Remainder gross mass, kg | 344.4 | 154.6 | 79.5 |
| Total pallets shipped | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Total shipment gross mass, kg | 1,343.4 | 1,333.6 | 1,350.9 |
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The remainder pallets occupy four, one and one layers respectively, all within their candidate’s standard build. Nothing is backordered, added to the order or shipped loose.
The 12-pack’s capacity advantage over the 6-pack does not save a pallet on this particular order: both need three. The 24-pack reduces the number of shipping cases from 101 to 51 relative to the 12-pack, but needs a fourth pallet. Its case tare is 9.7 kg lower across the order, yet the extra 25 kg pallet and 2 kg of restraint make the complete shipment 17.3 kg heavier.
The whole-layer policy is consequential. A separate candidate build containing 23 complete 24-unit cases, with seven cases in a partial third layer, would carry 552 units at 1,440 mm and 597.4 kg gross. Using that build could reduce this order to three pallets. That is a different loading policy with a different containment task; assess it consistently across candidates rather than quietly adding partial top layers to one option.
Choose around the work the receiver must do
A 12-unit replenishment requires two complete 6-packs or one complete 12-pack. With a 24-pack, the receiver must open a case and manage the remaining 12 units, unless it changes the replenishment quantity. A six-unit request reverses part of that advantage: the 6-pack can move unopened, while either larger pack requires a case break. Those are count-based consequences; the time involved depends on where cartons are picked, scanned, stored and replenished.
For the 1,202-unit order, the 12-pack halves the number of complete cases to assemble and close relative to the 6-pack, from 200 to 100. It does not halve labor. Product loading, travel, scanning, case erection and handling may respond differently. Similarly, receiving a full pallet may involve fewer case-level transactions than receiving individual cases. Measure the actual process before converting case counts into labor savings.
The complete 24-pack weighs 24.8 kg, compared with 12.5 kg for the 12-pack and 6.3 kg for the 6-pack. None of these masses alone establishes safe manual handling. The Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation evaluates applicable two-handed lifting tasks using factors including reach, hand height, travel distance, asymmetry, frequency, duration and grip quality. It is task-specific ergonomic guidance, not a universal safe-case-weight rule.
For the stated brief, advance the 12-pack to physical trials. It matches the dominant replenishment quantity, reduces case handling relative to six and avoids the extra pallet generated by the 24-pack’s standard build. Keep six in consideration where unopened six-unit replenishment matters most. Reconsider 24 where full-case demand, suitable handling arrangements and a revised pallet build justify it. Compare complete delivered cost using actual quotations and process observations; these calculations have not priced freight or optimized fulfillment.
Before freezing the specification, confirm loaded dimensions and masses, trial packing and receiving, and evaluate the complete shipping configuration against the common protection brief. ASTM D4169-23e1, Standard Practice for Performance Testing of Shipping Containers and Systems, provides a laboratory framework for evaluating shipping units against distribution hazards where that practice is selected. The dimensional comparison does not establish that any candidate passes.
Record the chosen case quantity, permitted remainder treatment, layer pattern and gross limits together. Release the case specification only when the supplier’s physical construction, the handling assessment and the receiver’s operating instructions agree.