Cartons and boxes

A box is a row of a quick quote, like a postcard or a poster, with three sizes instead of two. Start one from a box product (Tuck box; Tuck box, short run; Straight tuck box, short run; Tray; Shipping box): the Box designer opens so you can pick the size, then Use in estimate fills the row. The row shows the style and the inside size ("2.5 × 1.5 × 6 in · RTE") and a small drawing of the flat blank. To make your own box product, give it the shape Box (dieline), a box style and the family Folding carton or Corrugated box (see Products and finishing). A box line is a Folding carton or a Corrugated box, set from its style: the family decides how it can be made.

Size, board and grain#

• Size. Type the inside size in the Size cell as length × width × depth: 2.5x1.5x6, 12 x 10 x 8 in, 300x200x150mm or 2 3/8 x 1 1/4 x 5. Two numbers get "Boxes need three sizes". Enter or Alt+↓ on the Size cell opens the Box designer for the style, the size basis (inside, crease or outside) and the options. A size the style can't make is refused with the reason, and the row keeps its last size.
• Board. The row's stock is the board: carton boards and corrugated grades come first in the Stock cell. The box takes the stock's board, caliper and allowances (see Board, caliper and allowances); a stock with no caliper can't be drawn, and the line says so until you set it.
• Grain. A carton's grain runs around the box. On sheets, a stock with its grain set keeps every blank the same way on the sheet; a stock without one lets blanks turn, and the production card says the grain is unknown.

Space opens the row's details: the Box section there is a compact Box designer, with the blank's size, its fold check, Download and Open full designer. Changes made there change the row, and ⌘Z takes them back.

Routes#

• Offset: cartons printed on an offset press, several up on the sheet, die-cut and folded and glued on your machines. Each box is planned and priced on its own, with its own card on the Production tab (see below).
• Sheets (digital / flatbed): short-run cartons printed on sheets, laid out true shape and ganged with the flat parts on the same stock, and cut on the cutting table: its time includes every crease and inner cut. Without a cutting table, cutting isn't priced (the card says so). Hand folding and gluing is a finishing entry, per 1,000. A carton on Sheets can also be die-cut instead: it is then planned on its own, like an offset carton.
• Blanks (made to size): corrugated made to size. On the flexo folder-gluer or die-cut, each box is planned on its own with its sheets, machine time, plates and packing. As board only, each blank is priced by its rectangle, with no sheet and no trim: a 12 × 10 × 8 in RSC in C flute is a 45.75 × 18.56 in blank, 5.898 ft², so 1,000 boxes at $45 cost and $70 price per 1,000 ft² come to $265.40 and $412.85 ($206.42 for 500). That price appears as you type.
• Custom price: type the price.

A box can't run on a roll, and flat parts can't use Blanks. Any box line also takes a hand price in Each.

How a box is made#

Space on a box row opens its details: the Box section, and under it Make, which says how the box is converted:

Choosing a way the row's route doesn't take moves the row to a route that does: a carton switched from die-cut to the cutting table goes from Offset to Sheets and joins the other parts on that stock's sheets; switched back, it gets its own production card again. A way the stock can't run is greyed with the reason. The section also has:

• Versions: artworks sharing one die (each version is its own press form).
• Die: a die on hand or a new die, as the box's die policy says, with the dies that fit and what each costs all-in (see Die on hand or a new die).
• Tooling: Separate one-off (the die or plates as their own row) or Included in the price (inside the price each).
• Print panels (corrugated): the body panels printed per colour, 1, 2 or 4; the plate area follows.
• Plan: the ups on the press sheet and its grain, the sheets printed, die-cut and glued, or the MSF of board.
• Per MSF (corrugated): the line's price per 1,000 ft² of board used, without separate tooling; Price at $… per MSF writes the price each that gives that rate.
• Compare: the other way of making it at the same quantity, with Switch.

The ups come from the true shape of the blank on the press sheet, keeping the grain the stock and the style ask for; while that search runs the first time, a grid of blanks prices the line and the card says so. Staff can type the ups on the production card. Machines come from Equipment → Finishing: the folder-gluer must be set up for the box's glue style (straight line for tuck ends, crash-lock or four-corner for those bottoms).

Dies, plates and tooling#

A new die is priced from your die rate card: base, die board (the press sheet), the cutting and creasing rule of every blank on it, and the markup (see Tools and dies). Flexo plates are priced per colour from the plate rate card. Tooling is the same at every quantity. Billed separately, it shows under the line's total as "+ $804.00 Cutting die", counts in the estimate's total, is never rounded and never changed by a hand price; the "or 25,000" rows say "plus the one-off tooling". Those rows follow the estimate's rounding and the line's hand price like every other line's.

When the die is ordered, Save as tool on the box's production card adds it to Tools & dies as ordered, so a reorder of the same box finds it once it is on hand (see Die on hand or a new die). A CAD dieline box saves its die the same way. A box whose die is already in the library (ordered or on hand) says so instead of saving a second one.

Finishing timed on a machine (for example hand packing) is priced on boxes like on flat parts; a box on Blanks as board only has no machine time to add, so it can't take one.

When a box can't be planned, its production card says why, with Fix where the fix is: no machine of a kind, a sheet larger than the press takes, a sheet outside the die-cutter's or flexo folder-gluer's sheet range (their limits in Equipment → Finishing), a stock with no sheet size, or a blank outside the gluer's range. A litho-laminated box whose litho sheet has no price says the line needs a price, and Ready to quote lists that stock.

Die on hand or a new die#

A die you already own cuts the same single-up whatever the box is called: the die sets the ups and the press sheet, and it costs nothing more to use. A new die may still be cheaper all-in when it gangs more ups. The Die block of the Make section (die-cut and litho-laminated boxes) says which one the quote uses. Its chip tells you what the die matching found: "Die on hand: D-2001 · 6-up", "Near: D-1990 · 0.80 mm", or "No die on hand".

Choose a die policy:

• Prefer a die on hand (the default, set in the tooling settings): a die on hand when one fits, else a new die. A cheaper new die is only advice: the line under the options says by how much.
• Cheapest all-in (compare): the least all-in of every die that fits and a new die, by cost or price as the tooling settings rank them; a new die spread over several orders counts only its share for the ranking. A die your customer already paid for is never replaced by a new one unless you pick it.
• Use a standing die: the die you pick in the list, even one at the die maker or in repair, or one that costs more. Without a pick, the cheapest die on hand that fits, else a new die.
• New die only: a new die laid out for this job, even when a die is already on hand.

Under the policies, each option reads like "On hand: D-2001 · 6-up · no die charge · line 1,239.03" or "New die · 8-up · die 643.20 · line 1,042.12", with its all-in total (the line plus the die) and the difference from the one in use. Picking a die on hand in the list uses that die (Use a standing die); picking the new die is New die only. A die on hand can still carry a cost: its stripping or blanking tool when that isn't on hand, and a re-rule when this job passes its life (from the rate card). Without a rate card for the die type, that cost can't be priced: the die row drops "no charge" and Ready to quote asks for the rate. A quantity alternate carries the re-rule or wear its own quantity needs, even when the main quantity's die row is no charge. The line "vs new 8-up die: +446.29 all-in" is for you only; the quote shows the die row alone (see Reading the quote). The options show once the box is priced, and after each change once it is priced again. An option that can't be priced on this row reads "can't be priced on this row", with no difference.

• Another sheet size. A die laid out for another press sheet is listed with "Made for another sheet size" and is never used by itself. When the board comes in that size too (same paper key) and the press and die-cutter take it, Switch this row to 28 × 40 in (or picking the die) moves the row to that stock and uses the die, in one undo step. Picked otherwise, the box stops with Die's sheet not available: add the die's sheet size to the board, or use a press and die-cutter that take it.
• Made to size. A corrugated board made to size is cut one blank at a time, so a die with more than one up is listed but never used, and can't be picked.
• Near matches. Click a near chip to see both outlines on top of each other; Use station A for this box makes the die count as a match for this box until its shape changes (see Matching jobs to dies).
• A die added later. The quote doesn't swap dies by itself: when a die that fits was added after the box was priced, the chip reads "On hand, not used yet: Re-plan to use it"; click it to plan the box again.
• Rush the new die adds the rate card's rush percentage to a new die's cost.
• A die of this customer shows "customer already paid for this die". One of another customer is never listed: the chip shows it as "another customer's die", and it is used only when pinned through the API (spec.tool, see Estimating API). Changing the estimate's customer plans the box again.

With the tuck box of the worked example below (example rates, not defaults) and D-2001, a 6-up die of the same single-up, on hand: at 10,000 the box on D-2001 is $1,239.03 cost all-in (1,835 sheets die-cut, 2,148 printed), and on a new 8-up die $1,042.12 plus $643.20 for the die, $1,685.32, so both Prefer a die on hand and Cheapest all-in (compare) keep D-2001 and the line reads "vs new 8-up die: +446.29 all-in". At 50,000, D-2001 is $4,509.96 and the new die $4,185.31 all-in: Prefer a die on hand keeps D-2001 with "vs new 8-up die: −324.65 all-in" and says a new die is cheaper, while Cheapest all-in (compare) takes the new die.

A CAD dieline instead of a style#

A box can also take its blank from a die file your die maker or structural designer drew: a single-up dieline in Tools & dies, read from a CF2, DXF or PDF die. In a carton or corrugated row's Make section, Use a CAD dieline… lists the folding carton and corrugated single-ups of your library (search by name) and links to the die import page, where a new file for this part is read. The import page opens in a tab of its own: when the file has several shapes, pick the one under Use for this part; once it is saved, the row in the estimate's tab uses it (the single-up stays unlisted in the library until a die uses it). Picking one makes the row a CAD dieline box:

• It has no style and no length × width × depth: the Size cell shows "CAD" and the flat blank. Its outline, blank, cutting, creasing and perforating rule, and its family (folding carton or corrugated) come from the single-up and are never redrawn, so a sent quote keeps them.
• It is planned and priced like any box on the same route: ups on the press sheet, die-cut, fold and glue, board, coating and a new die priced from its own rule lengths. A tuck box imported from a die file prices exactly like the same box drawn in the Box designer (with the example rates below, 8 up at 10,000: $1,042.12 cost, $1,634.36 price).
• The board follows the row's stock (its caliper and weight), as for any box.
• What a die file can't say comes from the single-up's box facts: the gluer class (none, straight-line, crash-lock, 4-corner, 6-corner), the glue points and the grain. Without a grain it is read from the blank's main creases. Set the gluer class in the Make section: on a way of making that folds and glues it, a box without one waits with "Pick the gluer class for this dieline"; made without gluing it prices and says "The gluer class of this dieline isn't set". Facts you change on the single-up (in the Make section, or on its page in Tools & dies) reach every box on it, in every estimate, and those estimates are priced again.
• Open in 3D folds it in the Box designer, read-only. Use a box style instead turns the row back into a drawn box, waiting for its size.
• It can't be saved as a product: products carry a box style. Pick the single-up on each new row instead.

Downloads give the dieline as PDF, DXF or CF2, drawn from the stored single-up, and the original die file (see Dieline files). A single-up in use by a part can't be deleted; archiving it keeps it on the parts that have it.

Set up box quoting#

A team with nothing set up still gets the whole plan of a box at once (blank, ups, sheets), with what is missing ("Add a press in Equipment → Presses") and a hand price in Each. The Ready to quote strip also offers Set up carton quoting: 14 values or Set up corrugated quoting: 6 values. The dialog asks, in one form:

• Cartons: board price per sheet; the offset press rate, plate, speed and makeready; the die-cutter rate, speed and setup; the folder-gluer rate, speed (m per min) and setup; the die base and its cutting and creasing rule rates. A speed is saved with the unit the dialog shows, so a folder-gluer you added without a speed runs in m per min.
• Corrugated: board price per MSF; the flexo folder-gluer rate, speed, setup and setup per colour; the plate rate.

Advanced adds costs, waste, minimum charges, the markup and the product's coating or packing prices; left empty they are 0, and a machine with no waste says so on its production card. Set up and price creates what is missing and fills only empty values: a rate you already set is never changed. Typing the 14 carton values takes about a minute; the lines then price.

Worked examples#

With these example rates (the app ships no prices), each line is exact to the cent.

Tuck box, offset, 10,000#

A reverse tuck end, 2.5 × 1.5 × 6 in inside, on 18pt SBS C1S 28 × 40 in at $0.40 cost and $0.60 price a sheet, 4/0 with aqueous coating, die-cut and straight-line glued. The blank is 8.68 × 10.24 in with 45.46 in of cutting and 38.97 in of creasing rule; it runs 8 up with the grain.

The die is $250 base + 1,120 in² × $0.02 + 8 × 45.46 in × $0.35 + 8 × 38.97 in × $0.30 + $150 stripping = $643.20, priced with a 25 % markup. At 25,000 the line is $1,979.50 cost and $3,105.30 price ($0.12421 each); at 2,500 it is $573.43 and $898.90, or $1,216.63 and $1,702.90 with the die.

Shipping box, flexo folder-gluer, 1,000#

An RSC (FEFCO 0201), 12 × 10 × 8 in inside, in C flute 32 ECT kraft made to size at $45 cost and $70 price per MSF, one colour on two panels. The blank is 45.75 × 18.56 in, 5.898 ft², and the FFG runs one sheet per box.

All in, $425.71 cost and $697.20 price. At 500 the line is $223.70 and $380.31 ($120.53 per MSF, $254.32 and $418.59 all in); at 2,500 it is $909.24 and $1,494.75 ($98.42 per MSF, $939.86 and $1,533.03 all in).

Downloads and updates#

The Box section's Download gives the dieline PDF for the die maker or cutting table, the artwork template for your designer, DXF, CF2 and an SVG. The die files wait for the fold check; the template never does. See Dieline files.

Updating a box#

A box keeps the geometry it was quoted with, so a sent quote never changes by itself. When the box designer draws the style better, or you change the stock's allowances, the row's details say "Newer box geometry available" or "Board allowances changed" with Update, which redraws and re-prices the box in one step. A box of a style that has since left the list keeps its price and still saves with the rest of the estimate.

Customer links#

Customers see box lines, their description and (when shown) their price, and can change the quantity; a die or plate billed separately is its own "One-off: cutting die" row with its price, never its cost, the ups or the plan. They can't add boxes or change a box's size, style, board or how it's made, and they never see which CAD dieline or die a box uses: a CAD dieline box's style reads "Custom box" on a customer link, never the single-up's name. A staff link shows a box's blank and notices; its size and style are changed in the estimate itself, where the Box designer is.