Sleeve boxes are made to order, so the measurements you send are the product you get. Most ordering mistakes are not exotic: they are a footprint taken from a drawing rather than a pallet, or a height taken from a product rather than from what has to fit under the lid.
1. The pallet, measured
Measure the actual pallet, not the nominal size. A euro pallet is nominally 1200 x 800 and few of them are exactly that after a few trips. Measure the deck, and check it is square – a pallet that is out of square by ten millimetres will make the base sit proud.
Also measure the deck thickness and whether the top boards are flush. The base has to sit on what is there.
2. Internal height, properly
The tallest item you will load, plus clearance for the lid to close without pressing on it. Not the average product height, and not the external height of the stack you want. If your product is mixed, measure the tallest thing that goes in.
If boxes are double-stacked, also work out the total stack height – two boxes plus the pallet – and check it against your doorway and racking heights before fixing the sleeve.
3. Load weight, and where it sits
Total weight for the wall and base specification, and whether it is centred. A heavy load against one wall puts a lateral force on a surface designed for vertical load, which is how boxes end up leaning. We covered the leaning separately in why a pallet sleeve box leans to one side.
4. How it gets handled
Forklift from which sides. Whether boxes are dragged. Whether they are stacked two high and for how long. All of this sets base construction, which is the part that wears out first and the part most often under-specified.
5. The return leg
Not a measurement, but decide it before ordering. How many collapsed sleeves fit on the vehicle that brings them back, and where they will be stored. A sleeve system without a return leg is an expensive carton, and it is much easier to establish the lane before the boxes arrive.
Two things to specify separately
Order bases, sleeves and lids as separate line items. They wear at different rates, and a system bought as sets ends up with spare sleeves and a shortage of bases within a year. We set that out in how many times you can reuse a pallet sleeve box.
Draw the footprint before you order
A sketch with five numbers on it prevents most sizing disputes: footprint, internal height, load weight, pallet type, and how many boxes stack. Send it to the supplier and ask them to confirm the drawing before production.
Ten minutes with a tape measure and a pencil, and it removes the most common failure – which is not a bad sleeve, but a sleeve made correctly to a number that was wrong.
If your pallets are mixed, measure three of them and use the worst. A sleeve sized to the best pallet in the yard will not fit the rest.
What we can do
We supply sustainable pallet sleeve box systems quoted base, sleeve and lid separately. Send us the five measurements and we will produce a drawing to check before production – including telling you if two sleeve heights would serve you better than one.