The whole shelf, counted

This is where the shelf gets enumerated in full

Nine use case groups in this catalog resolve to the same 539 rows, and rather than repeat a partial count nine times, the whole inventory is counted once here and the other eight properties point at it.

Four further groups carry this shelf plus exactly three rows

So thirteen groups draw on substantially the same inventory. The three extra rows are two 1 oz PET slim cylinder rounds, at 29.6 mL and 3.55 by 0.967 inches on a 20-410 neck, and the 20-410 white polypropylene lid that closes them. All three are narrow, which is the one shape this shelf is otherwise short of.

The capacity range is narrow and complete

5 to 500 mL with a median of 177, and every one of the 251 containers carries a capacity. That is the only field on this shelf with no gaps at all.

Within that, 66 sit above 237 mL and 33 above a pint

So the upper half of the range is thinly populated. The shelf is concentrated between about 60 and 250 mL, which is the band a sorted set of small parts actually occupies.

There are three materials and no others

117 PET, 78 polypropylene, 56 glass. No HDPE, no polyethylene, no metal container, no paperboard. For a dry storage shelf that is a short list and it is worth knowing before a material is specified.

Four categories, and jars dominate

210 jars, 27 bottles, 12 tubs and pails, 2 tubes. A jar means a wide mouth relative to the body, which is the right geometry for reaching into with fingers, and that is why the shelf looks the way it does.

Twenty five container families, with one of them a third of the shelf

PET Single Wall Jar at 101 is the largest, followed by PP Single Wall Jar at 26, Double Wall Round Base Jar at 22, glass straight sided jar at 20 and glass boston round at 15. The remaining twenty families account for 67 rows between them, and eleven of those twenty hold exactly one row.

And eighteen subcategories, led by Single Wall Jars at 127

Then Double Wall Jars at 35, Straight Sided Jars at 20, Boston Rounds at 15, Round Tubs at 12 and Mason and Paragon at 10. Twelve further subcategories carry nine rows or fewer each and seven of them carry one.

A double wall jar is heavier and warmer and mostly air

35 of the 251 are double wall, which means an outer shell around an inner container. The usable volume is smaller than the footprint suggests, which matters when the shelf is being filled with identical sizes.

The closure side is 288 rows and it is not a matching set

There are more closures than containers because one neck finish serves several bodies, and because several finishes have both a plain lid and a lined or metal alternative.

References