Reference
FEFCO codes are the shared shorthand for corrugated construction across Europe. Four digits, one agreed meaning, so a drawing does not have to travel with every order. These are the ones that actually get ordered.
The first two digits are the construction family. The last two identify the design within it. Quote 0201 to any corrugated plant in Europe and it knows you mean a regular slotted case, without a dieline, a phone call, or a sample. That is the whole value of the system: it removes ambiguity from the part of the order where ambiguity is most expensive.
The first two digits place a design in one of these groups. Knowing the family is usually enough to have the right conversation.
Sheets and cuts
Commercial rolls, sheets and slit board. The input to everything else rather than a finished pack.
Slotted boxes
One piece of board with a glued or stitched joint, top and bottom flaps. The largest family and the default for shipping.
Telescope boxes
Two or more pieces where a lid fits over a base. Used where presentation or load weight rules out flaps.
Folder types
One die-cut piece that folds up around the product. Most ecommerce mailers live here.
Slide types
Sleeves and inner frames that slide into one another. Common for retail and gift formats.
Rigid types
Multi-piece constructions stitched or taped at the ends. Heavy industrial duty.
Ready-glued cases
Glued at the plant, shipped flat, erected in one movement. Built for packing-line speed.
Shelf-ready and retail
Formats designed to go from pallet to shelf without unpacking.
Interior fitments
Partitions, pads, liners and dividers. Ordered alongside a case, not instead of one.
Six constructions cover the large majority of real orders. If you can specify from this list, you can brief almost any job.
Regular Slotted Container (RSC)
All flaps the same depth, outer flaps meeting in the middle. The most produced box design in the world, because it wastes the least board of anything that closes on all six sides.
Full Overlap Slotted Container (FOL)
Outer flaps overlap the full width, giving a double thickness across the top and bottom. Specified where the load is heavy or the pack is likely to be stacked and crushed rather than dropped.
Half Slotted Container (HSC)
A slotted box with bottom flaps only, left open at the top. Used in pairs with a separate lid, or where the pack is filled from above and closed by a tray.
Slotted case, self-locking bottom
A bottom that interlocks by hand without tape or glue. Slower than a glued crash-lock but far faster than taping, which suits medium-volume manual packing.
One-piece folder, self-locking
A die-cut blank that wraps the product and locks closed with tabs, no tape and no glue. Double-thickness side walls make it rigid for its weight, which is why it became the default ecommerce and subscription format.
Ready-glued, crash-lock bottom
Glued flat at the plant with a bottom that locks as the box is pushed open. Erects in one downward movement, which is where it earns its cost back on a packing line.
Construction codes and family definitions follow the FEFCO / ESBO International Fibreboard Case Code, which is the authority where any description here is ambiguous.
Send the construction, internal dimensions and rough annual volume, and we will come back with board options and a price. If you are unsure of the code, describe the product and we will specify it.