Reality Checks
Eleven live checks against the failures that surface at the dock, the weighbridge, the FC receiving door and delivery — exactly when fixing them costs the most. Each one is grounded in how the industry actually describes the problem.
They run while you plan — not as a report afterwards. Nothing to configure.
Door clearance
/plannerWhen it bites
At the port — the pallets were planned against the interior height and don't clear the door header.
Industry reality
The single most common loading mistake: a standard door header is ~2.28 m, ~10 cm below the 2.39 m interior, and the forklift still needs lift-and-tilt room. Practical loaded-pallet limit: 2.15–2.20 m.
The live check
Every carton is tested against the DOOR aperture in every allowed orientation, live while you plan.
Axle loads
/plannerWhen it bites
At the weigh station — legal on gross weight, cited anyway: the rear axle group is over.
Industry reality
Axle-group violations are among the most common weigh-station citations; the remedy is offloading at a transload yard.
The live check
Each carton's weight splits kingpin vs rear axles by the lever rule — live totals against per-group limits as you drag.
Crush strength
/plannerWhen it bites
At delivery — the consignee files a claim; the bottom layer buckled at sea.
Industry reality
Industry analyses trace roughly two-thirds of intermodal cargo claims to poor packing. Damp board can lose up to half its stacking strength on a sea voyage.
The live check
Max-load-on-top per carton, estimable from the ECT board grade via the McKee formula (safety factor 4), enforced down through the stack.
Heavy-over-light & top-heavy
/plannerWhen it bites
Same claim, different cause — a heavy carton was stacked on a light one, or the load rides top-heavy.
Industry reality
"Heaviest at the bottom" is the first rule every loader learns; braking and cornering work on the CoG's lever arm.
The live check
A carton ≥25% heavier than the one beneath it, or a load CoG above 55% of load height, draws a warning.
Load-shift voids
/plannerWhen it bites
Mid-voyage — slack in the stow lets cargo slam across the gap under braking and sea motion.
Industry reality
Load shift is one of the most frequent causes of freight damage; the industry answer is blocking, bracing or dunnage airbags sized to the gap.
The live check
Free run at the door and the biggest mid-stow gap are measured on every plan; anything over 15 cm flags a bracing warning.
Pallet overhang
/plannerWhen it bites
At the FC receiving dock — Amazon rejects the pallet for overhang.
Industry reality
Amazon rejects hundreds of pallets a day for bad stacking; overhang also costs ~30% of carton compression strength.
The live check
Overhang allowance is explicit (0 / 2.5 / 5 cm per side) — we pack it AND warn. The FBA pallet preset locks it to zero.
SOLAS VGM
/plannerWhen it bites
At documentation — the VGM is misdeclared and the box is held.
Industry reality
Every packed container needs a Verified Gross Mass (cargo + tare) before loading; misdeclaration carries fines.
The live check
VGM shows live on every container plan — cargo weight plus the tare of the selected box.
90° turn box
/warehouseWhen it bites
Day one of the new layout — the forklift can't make the right-angle turn into the rack bay.
Industry reality
The classic layout mistake: the aisle is measured for straight travel, but right-angle stacking needs meaningfully more room.
The live check
Straight width and the 90° turn box are separate checks per truck spec; corner-blocked pallets turn red before you commit.
Floor slab rating
/warehouseWhen it bites
On the mezzanine — a 4-level rack bay is 2.4 t on 3 m² and the slab wasn't rated for it.
Industry reality
Mezzanines are often rated ~500–1,000 kg/m² while ground slabs take 3,000–5,000 — a rack that's fine downstairs fails upstairs.
The live check
Pick the slab rating; stacked pallets and rack bays are pressure-checked per footprint, overloads turn red.
Zone segregation
/warehouseWhen it bites
Next morning — the chilled pallets sat outside the cold zone all night.
Industry reality
Temperature abuse and hazmat co-storage are audit findings with real consequences — spoilage claims and compliance penalties.
The live check
Chilled / frozen / hazmat cargo turns red the moment it sits outside a matching zone.
Loading sequence
/plannerWhen it bites
At the door — the plan is beautiful, but the crew loads in the wrong order and re-does an hour of work.
Industry reality
A plan the crew can't follow isn't a plan. The sheet at the door is the deliverable that actually moves boxes.
The live check
The PDF and CSV number every carton in loading order — #1 first, back of the container, floor level first.
Under the hood: one honest engine
The packing core averages 80% volume utilization on the Bischoff–Ratcliff academic benchmark (300 instances) with full stability constraints — ≥60% base support, load propagation, full collision. Reproducible from the repo. The checks above run on the same engine, on every drag.