Systainer3 and the Tanos Ecosystem

The interesting thing about Systainer3 is not the latch or the polymer. It is that the dimensions are a published grammar rather than a marketing name. If you know a box is an M 237, you know it is 396 mm wide, 296 mm deep, and adds exactly 237 mm to a stack. No American modular system gives you that.

Who actually makes it

Tanos GmbH is the manufacturer, based in Illertissen in Bavaria. Festool is the brand most people associate with Systainers because Festool ships its tools in them, and both companies sit inside the same Tooltechnic ownership structure. Tanos also sells empty cases directly, supplies other tool makers, and publishes the full catalog with dimensions, internal volumes and recommended retail prices.

The lineage runs in three generations:

• Classic-Line, from 1993. Four separate corner clips. Sizes named SYS 1 through SYS 5 on a 52.5 mm height module, giving body heights of 105, 157.5, 210, 315 and 420 mm.
• T-LOC, from 2010. The same footprint and the same 52.5 mm module, but a single rotating handle replaced the four clips. One twist opens the lid, connects the box to the one below, or releases it.
• Systainer3, from 2019. New height increments, a front carry handle, molded slots in the side walls for rack rails, and continued stacking compatibility with the older generations.

That backward compatibility matters more than it sounds. A shop that bought T-LOC cases in 2012 can still add Systainer3 boxes to the same towers and use the same SYS-AZ drawer frames.

The size grammar, decoded

Here is the rule that unlocks the whole catalog: the number in the name is the stack pitch in millimeters, and the published exterior height is that number minus the feet.

Tanos states this explicitly in a footnote on its price list. Exterior dimensions are measured without feet, and the feet add 7 mm on M, L and XXL boxes, 5 mm on the small S boxes, and 1.7 mm on the XXS 33. So an M 137 has a 130 mm body and occupies 137 mm of tower height. An M 437 has a 430 mm body and occupies 437 mm.

The practical payoff: to work out whether a stack fits under a van shelf, you add the names. M 137 plus M 237 plus M 437 equals 811 mm (31.9 in) of tower. You do not need a tape measure.

Width and depth follow a second rule. Depth is always 296 mm (11.7 in). Width is 396 mm for M, 508 mm for L, and 792 mm for XXL. Because 792 is exactly two 396 mm boxes side by side, an XXL stacks squarely on top of two M boxes.

Volume efficiency here is the published internal volume divided by the exterior envelope (width x depth x body height). It is a useful number because envelope volume is what consumes shelf space in a van. The S sizes are left blank because the published internal volumes for that family appear to be rounded, and the arithmetic returns figures above 95 percent that no molded case achieves.

Cost per liter inside one product family

Using the manufacturer's own 2024 recommended retail prices excluding VAT, the pattern is stark:

Four M 137 boxes give you 41.6 L for 271 EUR. One M 437 gives you 43.1 L for 86 EUR. The four small boxes buy you sorting granularity and four separate carry handles, and you should be clear-eyed that this is what the extra 185 EUR is purchasing. Run the same arithmetic across brands with our storage cost per liter calculator.

Why 396 x 296 mm

The footprint is not arbitrary. It is the 400 x 300 mm Euro container module with clearance taken out. That module is exactly half of a 600 x 400 mm Euro container base, which in turn tiles onto 800 x 600 mm and 1200 x 800 mm handling equipment. Systainers therefore drop into European warehouse, van racking and workbench systems that were already built to that grid.

This is also why Tanos partnered with bott on van racking. The Systainer3 side slots take SYS3-SN rails, which let a case slide in and out of a rack like a drawer. Reported rack spacing requirements differ by product, roughly 418 mm between uprights for the Systainer3 rails and around 427 mm for the SYS-AZ drawer frames, so measure before you weld anything. If you are laying out a mobile shop, read that alongside mounting modular boxes in a van.

Racking, carts and mounting hardware

The naming here trips people up, so here are the actual catalog items:

• SYS-AZ drawer. A pull-out frame that holds a Systainer at drawer height and lets the lid open fully. Rated for 20 kg (44 lb), fits all Systainer generations except Systainer3 L, XXL, Organizer L and ToolBox L. A barrel lock is available separately.
• Systainer3 BASE. A wall or floor support plate with the Systainer3 catch geometry, so a tower clicks onto a wall instead of sitting loose. Sold without fasteners, which is a hint that the wall, not the plate, is the weak link.
• SYS-CART Base. The same idea sized for the earlier cart-compatible cases.
• Systainer3 CART SYS-RB. A wheeled base rated to 100 kg (220 lb) that accepts M, L and XXL boxes plus the older T-LOC and Sortainer families.
• Caster SYS-CART. A lower-profile wheeled base for M footprint boxes, also rated to 100 kg.
• SYS-Roll and MAXI-TRAPO. Transport trolleys rated to 100 kg and 150 kg respectively.
• SYS3-SN rails. Two rails per case, screwed to your own uprights, for DIY racking.

There is no Tanos product called SYS-Dock. If a listing uses that word, it is describing the BASE plate or a rail set.

The ToolBox, Organizer and other variants

Four body styles share the same footprint and latch:

• Standard Systainer3. Closed lid, full internal volume, the default.
• ToolBox. Open-top tote geometry inside a closed lid, with a sculpted internal profile. Same stack pitch as the equivalent Systainer3, similar internal volume, but roughly 20 percent cheaper because there is less material and no full-width sealing lip. An M 137 ToolBox lists at 54.80 EUR against 67.75 EUR for the standard M 137.
• Organizer. An 89 mm module with removable insert boxes for fasteners and small parts. See small parts storage for how to lay these out.
• Combi and Sortainer. Hybrid cases with integrated drawers, for example the Combi M 287 with one drawer under a 140 mm deep upper compartment.

Load ratings are the constraint people miss. Tanos rates M and L boxes at 20 kg (44 lb) of contents and XXL at 40 kg (88 lb). American systems commonly quote 100 lb per box. If you are hauling a 3/4 in drive socket set, that difference is the whole decision.

The third parties on the same footprint

Several manufacturers build cases on the Systainer geometry, which is the part of this story that has no American equivalent:

The L-BOXX is the important exception. It is a separate lineage designed by Sortimo, physically larger in plan, and it does not interlock with Systainers. Metabo's multi-adapter plate exists precisely because the two grids do not meet. Treat L-BOXX and Systainer as two different standards that happen to look similar in photographs, and check the details in our cross-brand modular box compatibility reference before you mix them.

Why the American systems are not dimension-standardized

Packout, ToughSystem 2.0, Pro Gear and the rest are defined by an interface, not by a dimensional standard. Each publishes exterior dimensions per SKU, but there is no module, no pitch, and no published grid that a third party could build to. Two consequences follow.

First, stack height is unpredictable. You cannot add model numbers to get a tower height, so every van shelf layout starts with a tape measure and a physical mock-up.

Second, there is no licensed third-party footprint. Aftermarket support for Packout is enormous, but it is accessory support (mounts, brackets, printed inserts) rather than other manufacturers shipping their tools in a compatible case. The Systainer grid is the only one where you can buy a Makita, a Metabo and a Festool and stack all three cases into one tower.

The tradeoff runs the other way on capacity and toughness. Systainer3 boxes are lighter, more volumetrically efficient, and rated lower. A Systainer3 M 237 packs 21.4 L into a 27.0 L envelope, about 79 percent. A large Packout tool box, using Milwaukee's published exterior and interior dimensions, converts roughly 57 percent of its envelope into usable space because of its thicker walls and sloped sides. You are trading impact margin for volume. Which is correct depends entirely on whether your boxes ride in a racked van or get thrown off a tailgate, a question we take apart in Packout vs ToughSystem vs Systainer vs the rest.

Choosing sizes without buying twice

1. Measure your vertical clearance first, then subtract 25 mm for the rail or cart, then solve for pitch numbers that add to that figure. A 900 mm shelf opening takes 137 + 337 + 437 exactly, or 237 + 237 + 437 with 11 mm to spare.
2. Default to taller boxes for bulk storage and short boxes only where you genuinely need a separate carry unit. The cost per liter table above is the argument.
3. Keep the L width for one thing only, which is items that will not fit in 389 mm of internal width. Mixing 396 and 508 mm widths in a stack means the tower is only stable where the footprints overlap.
4. Put heavy items in a Combi or Sortainer drawer, not in the bottom of a tall box, so you are not lifting a 20 kg lid-opening case onto a bench.
5. Buy the empty Tanos-branded cases rather than Festool-branded ones where the color does not matter. Tanos manufactures the Systainer line, so the case body is the same product in different branding and color.
6. Foam-fit last. Cutting Kaizen foam into a box commits you to that size, so settle the layout before you commit the foam.