Packing Methods Explained: Solid, Assorted and Ratio Packs

Packing looks like the easy part of the order and it generates a surprising share of the claims. A carton that is short by two pieces is an inconvenience. A hundred cartons packed to the wrong size ratio is a container that has to be opened and repacked at the port, or a discount negotiated after the fact.

I run a CMT factory in Nepal, so we pack to whatever the buyer specifies and live with the consequences of misreading it. This article sets out the three methods, works through the arithmetic that people most often get wrong, and describes where the errors actually originate.

The Three Methods

Three methods cover almost everything a CMT factory is asked to do. Which one applies is the buyer decision and it follows from how they intend to distribute the goods.

Solid pack

One carton, one colour, one size. Forty-eight pieces of navy medium, and nothing else in the box.

Solid packs are the simplest thing a factory can do and the easiest to check. Count the carton, confirm the size, seal it. They are commonly specified when goods go to a distribution centre that will break the cartons and re-pick for individual stores, or when a single store or wholesale customer is taking a large quantity of one thing. Buyers who run their own warehouse operation generally prefer solid packs because their systems are built to break bulk.

Assorted pack

A carton holding a mix of sizes or colours that is not a fixed repeating pattern. The contents are recorded per carton rather than described by a formula.

This method appears for a few reasons. Small orders where a repeating ratio does not divide cleanly, end-of-run remainders after the ratio cartons are complete, sample shipments, and replenishment orders where the buyer has asked for specific leftover quantities. It is also what you end up with, by default, when the size mix does not come out even.

The thing to understand about assorted packs is that the documentation burden moves. With a ratio pack you can describe two hundred identical cartons in one line. With assorted packs, every carton needs its own line on the packing list, and each of those lines is an opportunity to make a mistake. Assorted packing is not harder to do; it is harder to describe accurately.

Ratio pack

Each carton holds a fixed repeating size run, expressed as a ratio. A ratio of 1:2:2:1 across S:M:L:XL means every set in the carton contains one small, two mediums, two larges and one extra-large.

Ratio packing exists because of how retail floors work. A store receiving one carton wants a usable spread of sizes, not forty-eight extra-larges. The buyer specifies a ratio that matches their expected sell-through, the factory packs it, and the carton can go straight to the shop floor without being broken and re-picked. Buyers who ship direct to store rather than through a distribution centre almost always specify ratios.

The cost to the factory is coupling. A ratio carton cannot be closed until every size in the ratio is available, so one lagging size holds up the entire packing operation. If the extra-larges are three days behind, nothing packs, even though the smalls, mediums and larges are all pressed, folded and waiting.

A Worked Ratio Calculation

Here is the arithmetic with illustrative numbers. Nothing in this example is a measurement from our factory — it is a worked demonstration so the method is clear.

Suppose the buyer orders 4,800 pieces of one article in one colour, ratio 1:2:2:1 for S:M:L:XL, twelve pieces per carton.

1. Add the ratio parts. 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 6. One complete set is six pieces.
2. Sets per carton. 12 pieces per carton ÷ 6 pieces per set = 2 sets per carton.
3. Pieces per size per carton. Multiply each ratio part by the sets per carton: S = 1 × 2 = 2, M = 2 × 2 = 4, L = 2 × 2 = 4, XL = 1 × 2 = 2. Check the total: 2 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 12. Correct.
4. Cartons required. 4,800 total pieces ÷ 12 per carton = 400 cartons.
5. Total per size. S = 2 × 400 = 800, M = 4 × 400 = 1,600, L = 4 × 400 = 1,600, XL = 2 × 400 = 800. Check: 800 + 1,600 + 1,600 + 800 = 4,800. Correct.

Two things go wrong with this arithmetic in practice. The first is a ratio that does not divide into the carton quantity: a ratio summing to 6 into a carton of 10 does not work, and somebody will either round it or quietly pack 12 and hope. The second is multiple colours. If the same 4,800 pieces are split across three colours, the ratio applies within each colour, so you are running the calculation three times and each one must come out whole. A colour that is short by forty mediums breaks its own cartons without affecting the others.

Where Packing Errors Originate

The mistakes are rarely miscounts at the table. Someone counting twelve pieces into a box gets it right nearly every time. The errors come from further upstream.

• The ratio changed and the floor did not hear. The buyer revised the size ratio in an email to merchandising three weeks ago. The packing supervisor is working from the specification printed at the start of the order. This is the single most expensive packing error and it is a communication failure rather than a packing failure.
• Last season's ratio applied by habit. The same article for the same buyer ran a 1:2:2:1 last season and a 2:2:1:1 this season. Habit wins unless the list in front of the packer is generated fresh.
• Colour and size mixed at the folding table. Two lots of the same article in different colours being finished simultaneously with no physical separation. Tape on the floor is the cheapest quality control in the building.
• Short size covered up. The mediums ran out at carton 340. Rather than stopping, somebody substitutes larges to keep the carton count right. The carton count now matches and the shipment is wrong, which is considerably worse than being visibly short.
• Carton number reused or skipped. Two cartons marked 117, or a jump from 240 to 242. The physical goods may be perfect and the paperwork is now unusable.
• Weights estimated rather than measured. Gross and net weights guessed from last shipment. The freight forwarder re-weighs, the figures disagree, and the documents have to be reissued.

I should be precise about what we do and do not produce. The picking lists are printable documents that tell the packing team what to pull and in what quantity. A packing record exists on the floor as a working record of what went into which carton, but it is not something the system prints as a buyer-facing document. The formal packing list that accompanies a shipment is typically issued by the buyer, the buying house or the exporter of record depending on how the deal is structured, and I will come back to that in the section on documents.

Carton Marking Basics

Carton marking is governed by whatever the buyer specifies, and their specification overrides every general rule below. That said, most CMT factories see the same elements requested.

The main shipping mark, usually on two opposite sides, typically carries the buyer or consignee name, the order or purchase order number, the style or article number, the colour, the size or the ratio, the carton number in a running series, and the destination. The side mark commonly carries the quantity in the carton, gross weight, net weight and carton dimensions. Handling symbols and country of origin marking appear where required, and the origin marking in particular is a regulatory matter rather than a preference.

Three practical points. Carton numbering should run as a gapless sequence, because a gap is either a lost carton or a numbering error and you cannot tell which after the fact — the same logic we apply to challan and receipt numbering, which is generated atomically so numbers cannot repeat or skip. Weights should be measured rather than estimated, since the forwarder will weigh them anyway. And the marks should be applied before the carton is sealed and stacked, because remarking a carton at the bottom of a pallet is a twenty-minute job for two people.

Choosing a Method: The Factory's Side of the Conversation

The point worth raising with a buyer who has specified ratios on a tight delivery is the coupling. If the extra-large is the slowest size on your line and the ratio requires it in every carton, the whole shipment moves at the speed of your slowest size. Sometimes a split shipment with the ratio cartons first and a solid-pack remainder is a better outcome for both sides than a delay, and that is a conversation to have early.

What the Packing Table Should Have in Front of It

The upstream side of this is knowing what you actually have. If the finishing room is producing receipts with A and B grade quantities by lot and article, then the quantity available to pack is a number on a screen rather than a walk around the room. That is covered in the article on the finishing room, and the arithmetic of why the available quantity so often falls short of the cut quantity is in the piece on short shipments. Once the cartons are built, the documents that carry them are in the guide to export documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between solid pack and assorted pack?

A solid pack carton contains one colour in one size, so forty-eight pieces of navy medium and nothing else. An assorted pack carton contains a mix of sizes or colours that is not a fixed repeating pattern, and its contents have to be recorded carton by carton rather than described by a formula. Solid packs are simpler to check and to document, and they let you start packing as soon as any single size is ready; assorted packs usually appear for remainders, small orders and samples.

What is a ratio pack in garment packing?

A ratio pack carton holds a fixed repeating size run written as a ratio, such as 1:2:2:1 across S:M:L:XL, meaning every set in the carton has one small, two mediums, two larges and one extra-large. Buyers who ship direct to store rather than through a distribution centre usually specify ratios so that each carton arrives with a usable spread of sizes. The cost to the factory is coupling: no carton can close until every size in the ratio is available, so one lagging size stops the whole packing operation.

How do you calculate pieces per size in a ratio pack?

Add the ratio parts to get the set size, divide the carton quantity by the set size to get sets per carton, then multiply each ratio part by the sets per carton. For an illustrative order of 4,800 pieces at ratio 1:2:2:1 with twelve pieces per carton: the parts sum to 6, so there are 2 sets per carton, giving 2 small, 4 medium, 4 large and 2 extra-large per carton, which totals 12. Four thousand eight hundred divided by twelve is 400 cartons, requiring 800 small, 1,600 medium, 1,600 large and 800 extra-large. Always check that the per-size totals add back to the order quantity, because that is the step that catches a size shortfall before packing starts.

Where do most garment packing errors come from?

Not from miscounting at the table. The common causes are a size ratio that the buyer revised in an email the floor never saw, last season ratio applied out of habit, two lots of the same article in different colours being finished side by side without physical separation, a size running out mid-run and being quietly substituted to keep the carton count looking right, and carton numbers being reused or skipped. All of these come from working off memory or a stale document, so the countermeasure is generating the picking list from current order data every time.

What information goes on a garment export carton?

Whatever the buyer specifies takes precedence, but the usual pattern is a main shipping mark on two opposite sides carrying the consignee, order number, style or article, colour, size or ratio, carton number in a running series and destination, plus a side mark carrying quantity, gross and net weight and dimensions. Handling symbols and country of origin marking appear where required, and origin marking is a regulatory matter rather than a preference — confirm the current requirement with your freight forwarder. Keep the carton numbers gapless, weigh rather than estimate, and mark before sealing and stacking.

If you want one habit from this article, make it the closing check on the ratio arithmetic: multiply out the per-size totals and confirm they add back to the order quantity before a single carton is packed. It takes two minutes and it moves the discovery of a size shortfall from carton 340 to carton zero.

Santosh Rijal is the founder of Scan ERP, a garment manufacturing ERP system designed for factory floor operations. He works directly with sewing lines, cutting rooms, and production supervisors across Nepal's garment manufacturing sector.