Why 3D Packing Logic Is Harder Than Most Developers Think

Most developers underestimate how annoying 3D packing logic actually is until they try building it.

At first it sounds simple:

“Just fit products into boxes.”

Then suddenly you’re dealing with:

• rotations
• weight limits
• stacking rules
• utilization %
• multiple box sizes
• container loading
• item coordinates
• upright-only products

I was recently testing different approaches for cartonization and load optimization and realized why most companies avoid building this in-house.

Even basic scenarios get complicated fast.

For example:

• Which box creates the least wasted space?
• How do you split 200 products across pallets?
• What’s the most efficient truck/container arrangement?
• Which items should rotate and which shouldn’t?

I ended up playing with a few APIs and visualization tools to understand how others solve this problem.

One I tested was P4P, mainly because it gives actual coordinate-based placement results and visual packing output instead of just “fits / doesn’t fit.”

Seeing real placement logic visually makes debugging way easier.

Curious how others here handle this stuff.

Do you build packing logic internally, use heuristics, or rely on external optimization APIs?