Sleeve pack or one-piece container?
Use a sleeve pack when the load is lifted off rather than picked out, or when one base has to serve several parts. Use a one-piece collapsible container when the loop is simple and you would rather count one item than three.
What each one is
A sleeve pack is a plastic pallet base, a removable sleeve that forms the walls, and a lid. A one-piece collapsible container has its walls hinged to its base; they fold down but never come off.
Where the sleeve pack wins
- Access. Take the sleeve off and every side of the load is open to a hoist, a robot or a person. Large stampings, glass and molded panels come off more easily.
- Flexibility. One base and lid can take sleeves of different heights, and different inserts, for different parts.
- Cleaning. A sleeve is a simple band of plastic, easy to wash on its own.
Where the one-piece container wins
- Counting. One item to track instead of three. On a loop with many partners, lids and sleeves wander.
- Speed. Fold the walls and it is ready; nothing to lift off and stack separately.
- Known figures. One-piece collapsibles come with published sheets: a 48 x 40 x 32 in model carries 1,500 lb and folds to 13.5 in, 240 to a 53 ft trailer (ORBIS AG4048-32 product page).
On the trip back
Both go back small. The one-piece container folds onto its own base. The sleeve pack's sleeve folds or nests onto its base with the lid on top. How compact that is varies a lot from maker to maker, so ask for the return figure for the exact sleeve pack we quote.
If you can't decide
Ask how the part leaves the container at your line. Reached for and picked out: one-piece. Lifted off whole, or unloaded by machine: sleeve pack.
Counting three parts
The real cost of a sleeve pack shows up in the yard. Bases, sleeves and lids are made to go together, but on a loop they come back separately: a stack of bases on one truck, sleeves on another, lids lost behind a building. Plants that run sleeve packs well keep a count of each part and a rule for how they travel back, usually as a set banded together.
Robots and automated lines
Automated unloading is one place sleeve packs earn their extra parts. With the sleeve off, a robot or a gantry can reach the load from above and from every side, and a camera can see every part. A one-piece container with its walls up leaves the robot working down into a box, which is slower and needs a container held in exactly the right place.
Dunnage
Both kinds carry dunnage: dividers, trays, foam or racks that hold each part. In a sleeve pack, the dunnage sits on the base and the sleeve goes over it, so the whole load can stand as a block once the sleeve is lifted. In a one-piece container, the dunnage is designed to come out through the top or the drop door. Tell us how the dunnage behaves at your line.
Footprint options
Sleeve packs are common on the long automotive footprints and on metric lanes, where the base is sized to the 1200 x 1000 mm pallet. One-piece collapsibles cover the full range of US footprints, from 32 x 30 in to 78 x 48 in.
Weight of the parts
A sleeve pack spreads its tare across three pieces, and each can be lifted on its own. A person can often carry a sleeve or a lid where they couldn't lift a one-piece container's wall section. That matters where sleeves are put on and taken off by hand at the line.
Damage and replacement
When a sleeve is torn or a lid cracks, you replace that piece and keep the base. A one-piece collapsible with a broken wall needs a new wall panel if the maker sells one, or a whole new container if it doesn't. Ask which parts are sold separately for the model we quote.
Mixed fleets
Some loops run both: one-piece collapsibles for small parts picked by hand, and sleeve packs for the large parts unloaded by machine, on the same footprint so they share racking and trailer patterns. If your plant has both kinds of part, ask for both on one request.
Assembly on the receiving end
Sleeve packs arrive as a kit: pallet base, folded corrugated or plastic sleeve, lid. Someone has to erect the sleeve, seat it in the base's groove, and latch or strap it before filling. On a busy dock that minute per unit adds up over a shift, and a sleeve seated crooked can pop out of its groove when a forklift lifts it. One-piece collapsibles pop up with a pull on each wall and lock themselves.
Corrugated or plastic sleeves
Some sleeve packs use heavy corrugated sleeves, cheaper but short-lived and vulnerable to moisture; others use twin-wall polypropylene sheet, which lasts many trips and wipes clean. Twin-wall sheet looks like corrugated cardboard in section, with ribs between two skins, and folds along scored lines. If your parts are oily or the dock is damp, ask for plastic.
Export
For one-way export, where the pack won't return, a sleeve pack with a corrugated sleeve can be cheaper than shipping a one-piece collapsible that the overseas customer has no use for.
Lids as trays
Some sleeve-pack lids double as a tray or a second base, so a pack can be split into two shallow units for small orders.
Recycling worn sleeves
Corrugated sleeves recycle with cardboard; polypropylene sleeves go with plastic scrap, sorted by resin code.
Terms used here
- Sleeve pack
- A pallet base, a removable sleeve and a lid used in place of a one-piece container.
- Collapsible bulk container
- A plastic pallet container whose walls fold onto the base, so empties take a fraction of the space on the return trip.
- Runners
- Skids under the base; runners suit conveyors and some racking differently than a four-way base.
- Footprint
- Length by width of the base, e.g. 48 x 45 in; it must match the racking, line positions and trailer pattern.
- Collapsed height
- The container's height with walls folded down; with the footprint it decides how many fit on a trailer.
Tell us how the part comes out at the line, and we quote whichever fits. Ask for a quote