A part that stands a metre and a half high is awkward because it sets the box height, and box height is what decides how many units fit in a truck and how high a stack can go. The instinct is to make the walls taller and the box heavier. There is usually a better answer.
Height is a stacking decision
If a tall part has to be stacked, the box above rests on the box below and the tall walls have to take the load over a long span. That is the expensive case. If the part can be shipped unstacked, the walls only have to contain it and the box gets much lighter. The first question is therefore whether the stack is genuinely necessary or just habitual.
Recessing the part into the base
Dropping the part a hundred millimetres into a recess in the base cuts the box height by the same amount without reducing protection, and lowers the centre of gravity, which makes the whole box more stable. It is a simple change that is almost never proposed because it complicates the base drawing. The base is the cheap place to solve a height problem.
Split-level and internal decks
A box with an internal deck carries a tall part above a shallow layer of small parts. It works, it uses the volume properly, and it makes loading more complex. Whether it is worth it depends on the value of the volume saved against the extra handling time per box, which is a real number and worth estimating rather than guessing.
The lid has to locate, not just cover
A tall box is a lever. Any sideways force at the top is amplified at the base, which means a tall stack of tall boxes needs positive location at every interface. A lid with a register is the cheapest way to get it. A flat lid on a tall box in a moving truck is an invitation to a collapse.
Whether the part needs to stand up at all
Sometimes the answer is to lay the part down, which halves the box height and often needs no more internal support than standing does. That changes the handling at both ends, and the handling is usually the objection rather than the packaging. It is worth asking the question explicitly, because a plant that has always stood a part up has usually never costed laying it down.
Weight in the wrong place
A tall heavy part has a high centre of gravity, which makes a forklift lift less stable and a truck load more prone to shifting. Lowering the part into the base and keeping the mass near the deck is a stability improvement as much as a height saving. The box design should always be drawn with the centre of gravity marked on it, and it usually is not.
Strapping a tall box
Tall boxes are strapped down, not across. Straps over the top of a tall box put the load through the walls, and straps that run down the sides do nothing to hold the load. If the route needs restraint, the box should have designed anchor points so the driver does not improvise against a finished surface. This is the same issue that shows up in lid and stack loading.
Checking the lift, not just the load
A tall part has to be lifted out of a tall box, and the height of that lift is a manual handling issue that packaging decisions create. Where a part is heavy and the box is deep, an operator is reaching above shoulder height with a load, which is the worst combination. A recessed base or a box that opens on the side turns that into a safe lift.
It is worth measuring the lift height rather than estimating it. The distance from the base of the deepest part position to the top of the box is the number that decides whether a lift assist is needed, and it is routinely two hundred millimetres worse than anyone expects.
What we can do
We build PP honeycomb board boxes with recessed bases and internal decks for tall parts, sized to keep the centre of gravity low. Tell us the part height, the weight and whether it must stack, and we will show you the height you can save.