How to Load Irregular-Shaped Food Machinery into a 40HQ

Measure the envelope, then add the clearance

Start with the three worst-case dimensions of each item: the longest point, the widest point including any bracket, and the highest point with guarding fitted. That envelope is what the container sees, not the catalogue footprint. Add 20 mm between items and 50 mm at the walls as a handling allowance.

For a food line the usual surprises are discharge chutes that add 250 mm to one end, motor fans that protrude past the frame, and adjustable feet left extended after commissioning. Walk the floor with a tape measure once and record the real numbers; a plan built on catalogue dimensions will fail at the door.

Build the skeleton from the heaviest, largest units

Place skid-mounted main units first. They are heavy, they generally cannot be stacked and they define the lanes the rest of the load has to work around. Put them over or slightly forward of the axles rather than hard against the nose.

Once the skeleton is set, the remaining space is not a floor, it is a set of voids: above low frames, between tall units, and in the last two metres at the door end. Light pallets and cartons of parts belong in those voids, not on the floor competing with the machines.

Lock orientation before you optimise

Any SKU containing liquid, glass or a control cabinet gets a keep-upright flag. This is a constraint, not a preference. If the solver can only fit the load by tipping a cabinet, the correct answer is a different arrangement or a different container, not a rotated cabinet and a claim.

• Control cabinets and electrical panels: upright only, never side-loaded.
• Pumps, heat exchangers and liquid-filled vessels: drain or seal, then keep upright.
• Glass inspection windows and instruments: upright plus a fragile flag for dunnage.
• Frames and bare steel: usually free to rotate, which is where the solver finds space.

Check the three numbers before you close the doors

Space utilisation tells you whether the booking is right. Centre of gravity height, kept under 40% of internal height, tells you whether the load is stable. The 60% half-load rule tells you whether one end of the container is carrying too much mass. A plan at 79% that violates the CG rule is worse than a plan at 68% that does not.

Print the sequence, not just the picture

The dock crew needs the order of loading, the lashing points and the carton numbers. A 3D render is useful for the sales conversation; the printed sequence is what prevents the last four crates from being left on the floor. Export both, and keep one revision ID so the office and the dock are reading the same plan.