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ECMA CATALOGUE

ECMA folding carton templates.

Seventy-one parametric folding-carton structures classified by ECMA code — the largest family in the catalogue. Configure a carton's dimensions and inspect its dieline and 3D fold from the same standards-based model.

What the ECMA code system is

ECMA — the European Carton Makers Association — publishes the industry's standard classification for folding-carton designs. Like FEFCO codes for corrugated, an ECMA code is a shared language: designers, converters and brand owners can reference an exact carton construction without exchanging drawings.

Folding cartons are the packaging of the shelf — the cosmetics box, the pharmaceutical carton, the food sleeve — die-cut from carton board, creased, and delivered flat or pre-glued for high-speed erection on the packing line.

Reading an ECMA code

Take the catalogue's tour carton, ECMA A20.01.03.00. The leading letter places the design in a construction group — A is long-seam-glued cartons with rectangular surfaces. In group A, the first two-digit block describes the bottom closure system (20: tuck-in flap), the second the top closure (01: without flaps), and the remaining blocks record which panel each closure's flap is connected to, with panels numbered from the glue seam.

That structure makes the catalogue navigable by code: cartons that share closure systems sit close together, and two codes differing only in a panel block describe the same closures hinged on different faces. Every template page decodes its own blocks in the structure notes.

Groups A and B in this catalogue

The catalogue currently covers 56 group-A structures — long-seam-glued rectangular cartons, the workhorses of folding-carton production, including the classic tuck-flap constructions — and 15 group-B structures: unglued, self-locking tray constructions that lock by geometry rather than a glued seam, several of which pair with matching lids as telescopic two-part systems.

Every template is a real parametric structure, not a static drawing: each exposes the dimension and construction parameters its design supports, validated against real ranges.

Tuck-end cartons, the everyday workhorse

The most familiar folding carton is the tuck-end box: side panels glued into a sleeve, with tuck flaps closing the top and bottom. Variants differ in whether the tucks close on the same side (straight tuck) or opposite sides (reverse tuck), and in how the tuck engages — details that decide packing-line behavior and shelf appearance.

Packdroid's guided product tour uses the A20.01.03.00 tuck carton precisely because it shows the parametric idea quickly: change one dimension and the tuck geometry, panel layout and 3D fold all update together.

Creases, board and the fold preview

A folding carton lives or dies by its creases: every fold line in the dieline becomes a scored hinge in carton board. When proportions are wrong, tucks jam or panels bow — problems that are invisible in a flat drawing.

Because the 2D dieline and the 3D fold preview come from the same parametric structure, you can erect the carton on screen and check closure clearances before any cutting die exists. Confirm final board grade, grain direction and tolerances with your converter before mass production.

How to read this code system

All 71 ECMA templates