Ti-Hi Pallet Calculator
Ti × Hi for your cartons on a standard pallet — cartons per layer, layers high, totals, units and goods value.
Ti-Hi is the shorthand warehouses use for a pallet pattern: Ti is the number of cartons in one layer (the “tie”), Hi is the number of layers high. Ti × Hi is the cartons on the pallet, and almost every argument between a purchase order, a warehouse and a freight quote comes down to those two numbers. This calculator works them out properly: it tries your carton both ways round on the pallet footprint and keeps the better Ti, then works out Hi from the two limits that actually bind in practice — the maximum overall stack height you set, and, if you give weights, the maximum load the pallet may carry.
Enter one packed carton’s outside dimensions — height is the vertical side when stacked — pick a pallet, and set the tallest overall stack you allow. Ti and Hi update as you type.
Counts only, full layers, no overhang — not a stability certification. Your unit cost and the goods value stay in this page’s memory: never sent, stored, or written into the URL.
Quick answers
What does Ti-Hi mean?
Ti is the number of cartons that fit in one layer on the pallet; Hi is the number of layers stacked on top of each other. Ti × Hi = cartons per pallet. A pattern quoted as “Ti 4, Hi 4” is 16 cartons: four per layer, four layers high.
The notation survives because it describes a load completely enough to rebuild it anywhere: a warehouse receiving “Ti 9, Hi 5” knows the footprint pattern and the layer count without a diagram. This page reports both numbers, the orientation that produces the Ti, and which of your limits — height or weight — set the Hi.
How is Ti calculated?
Divide the pallet’s length and width by the carton’s footprint sides, round each down to whole cartons, and multiply — then do it again with the carton turned 90° and keep the better result. On a 1200 × 800 mm EUR pallet, a 60 × 40 cm carton gives max(2 × 2, 3 × 1) = 4 per layer.
Only uniform grid arrangements are counted: every carton in the layer points the same way. Pinwheel and brick patterns can occasionally fit one more carton into the leftover strips, but they are pattern-specific and harder for a warehouse to reproduce, so this calculator stays with the grid and says so.
What limits Hi — height or weight?
Whichever allows fewer layers. Height gives Hi = floor((maximum overall height − pallet deck height) ÷ carton height). Weight, when you enter a per-carton weight and a pallet load limit, gives full layers = floor(floor(limit ÷ carton weight) ÷ Ti). This page computes both and reports the smaller, naming the limit that bound.
The worked examples show both cases: a light carton on a EUR pallet where the 180 cm height limit binds at 4 layers, and a heavier pattern on a 48 × 40 pallet where a 400 kg load limit cuts the 6 layers the height would allow down to 5. A partial top layer may still be shippable in practice — this page counts full layers only, and says so, because Ti-Hi quotes are conventionally full-layer counts.
How to use
- Enter one packed carton’s outside length, width and height — the height is the vertical side when stacked.
- Pick the pallet footprint, or choose Custom and enter your own; then set the maximum overall stack height, pallet deck included.
- Optionally add the gross weight per carton and a maximum pallet load weight to let weight limit the layers, and units per carton plus unit cost for totals.
- Read Ti, Hi and the total, and check which limit bound the Hi before you quote the pattern to anyone.
About this tool
The footprint choices are the standard pallets of ISO 6780 practice: the EUR/EPAL 1200 × 800 mm, the North American GMA 48 × 40 in (1219 × 1016 mm), the 1200 × 1000 mm and the 1100 × 1100 mm, plus a custom size for everything else. The height limit is the overall height including the pallet deck (typical deck heights of 144 mm, or 140 mm for the 48 × 40, are built in and shown), because rack beams, doorways and truck roofs all measure the whole stack, not just the cartons. Your carton’s height is the vertical side throughout: to model cartons laid on their side, swap the numbers around.
Two optional fields turn the pallet count into shipment numbers. Add the units in each carton and the calculator totals the units on the pallet; add your per-unit purchase cost as well and it totals the goods value on the pallet. Those numbers exist only in this page, while it is open: cost and value are business data, so they are never written into the URL, never stored, and never sent anywhere.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded, sent to a server or stored.
How it works
Ti: with pallet footprint PL × PW and carton footprint a × b (all in the same unit), Ti = max( floor(PL÷a) × floor(PW÷b), floor(PL÷b) × floor(PW÷a) ). Cartons never overhang the footprint, and only uniform grids are counted.
Hi and totals: Hi by height = floor((maximum overall height − deck height) ÷ carton height), with deck height 144 mm (140 mm for the 48 × 40 in pallet; custom pallets assume 144 mm). Hi by weight = floor( floor(maximum load weight ÷ weight per carton) ÷ Ti ). Reported Hi = the smaller of the two (height only, if no weights are given). Total cartons = Ti × Hi (full layers). Overall height = deck height + Hi × carton height. Total units = total cartons × units per carton; total goods value = total units × unit cost — calculated in page memory only, never placed in the URL or stored.
Worked examples
60 × 40 × 40 cm cartons on a EUR pallet, max height 180 cm: Ti = max(2 × 2, 3 × 1) = 4 per layer. Height allows floor((180 − 14.4) ÷ 40) = 4 layers; a 1,000 kg load limit at 12 kg per carton would allow 83 cartons (20 layers), so height binds: Hi 4, 16 cartons per pallet, overall height 174.4 cm. At 24 units per carton and $2.50 per unit, that pallet holds 384 units worth $960.00.
40 × 30 × 30 cm cartons on a 48 × 40 in pallet, max height 200 cm, 400 kg load limit: Ti = max(3 × 3, 4 × 2) = 9 per layer. Height allows floor((200 − 14) ÷ 30) = 6 layers, but 8 kg cartons under a 400 kg limit allow 50 cartons — 5 full layers — so weight binds: Hi 5, 45 cartons per pallet, overall height 164.0 cm, load weight 360 kg. At 12 units per carton and $4.00 per unit: 540 units, $2,160.00 of goods.
40 cm cubes on an 1100 × 1100 mm pallet, max height 160 cm: Ti = 2 × 2 = 4 per layer either way round; height allows floor((160 − 14.4) ÷ 40) = 3 layers — Hi 3, 12 cartons per pallet, overall height 134.4 cm.
Pallet footprints used on this page
| Pallet | Footprint | Deck height used | Common in |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR / EPAL | 1200 × 800 mm | 144 mm | Europe; EPAL exchange pool |
| North American (GMA) | 48 × 40 in (1219 × 1016 mm) | 140 mm (about 5.5 in) | USA / Canada grocery and retail |
| ISO 1200 × 1000 | 1200 × 1000 mm | 144 mm | Europe / Asia general freight |
| ISO 1100 × 1100 | 1100 × 1100 mm | 144 mm | Asia-Pacific |
Footprints follow ISO 6780 standard pallet sizes; deck heights are typical values for wooden pallets of each type, checked November 2026 — plastic and display pallets differ. Custom sizes assume a 144 mm deck.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the calculator only count full layers for the weight limit?
Because Ti-Hi is a pattern specification: a quoted Hi means complete, identical layers that any warehouse can rebuild. A partial top layer is common in practice and perfectly shippable, but it is quoted separately (“Hi 5 plus 3”), not folded into the Hi. When weight binds, this page reports the cartons the limit allows, so you can see the partial layer for yourself.
My carton fits the footprint but Ti comes out as zero. What happened?
One footprint side of the carton is longer than both pallet sides it could face — for example a 130 cm carton side on a 120 × 80 cm pallet fits neither along the 120 nor across in a grid with the other side. Real loads would overhang or turn the carton so its height becomes a footprint side. Enter the dimensions with a different side as the height and recalculate; if no arrangement works, the carton genuinely needs a bigger pallet.
Should Ti cartons be arranged in columns or interlocked?
Column stacking (every layer identical, cartons directly above each other) is strongest for the cartons themselves, because the load travels down the carton walls. Interlocking alternate layers (turning the pattern 180° or mirroring it) ties the load together and resists sliding, at some cost to crush strength. This calculator counts a uniform grid either way; your carton supplier’s compression guidance and your wrapper’s practice decide the arrangement — and for anything tall or heavy, a test pallet beats any rule of thumb.
Why does the height limit include the pallet itself?
Because everything the stack has to pass through — rack beams, dock doors, truck and container doors, warehouse ceilings — measures the whole thing, deck included. A “180 cm load” that ignores a 14.4 cm deck is really 194.4 cm. Enter the overall limit you actually face; the page subtracts the deck height of the pallet you picked and shows the arithmetic.
What happens to the unit cost and goods value I type?
They are used for the arithmetic on this page and nothing else: not sent to any server, not stored in your browser, and never written into the page’s URL (in the query string or after the #), so a copied link or a server log can never carry them. Close or refresh the page and they are gone. Goods value per pallet multiplies up to a container’s value — the figure the Merchandise Processing Fee calculator linked below starts from — but you carry it there yourself, deliberately.
Is a Ti-Hi result a guarantee the pallet is safe to ship?
No. It is the count, not the engineering. Safety depends on carton crush strength at the bottom of the stack, how the load is wrapped, pallet condition, and how it will be handled and carried. Treat the height and weight limits you enter as your own operating rules — from your warehouse, carrier or carton supplier — and have tall, heavy or fragile stacks assessed in person before they travel.
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