Bulk or Bulk Factor is a decimal value used to set the size of the product on the carrier. This is specifically used when determining how many products or carriers will fit on a rail.
The default bulk factor is 1.0, meaning the product takes up roughly the same space as the carrier itself on the rail. After completing an operation this can change to reflect the new status of the product. How much the bulk factor changes is set on the operation, please see new bulk factor.
For example: you can fit 15 carriers on a rail with the rail load of 15. All carriers have the default bulk factor. After a sewing operation two larger pieces on the carrier are sewn together which increases the bulk factor to 2.0. You will now only fit half the amount of carriers on the same rail. When carriers are addressed to an upcoming station the system will check if there is available space on the rail, and if not give a "destination full" error message.
