Rattle is the most common complaint in this category and the most commonly misdiagnosed. It has one cause and one fix.

The cause is a millimetre

Sleeves are usually cut from a standard die sized to a nominal ball diameter. Real balls vary, and a die cut for the largest of them is loose on the rest.

Loose means the balls move every time the pack is handled. Over a pallet journey that is thousands of small impacts against the printed inside face.

Why the print ends up marked

A coated inside face scuffs where a ball rubs it. The marks are usually invisible until the sleeve is opened, at which point they look like a printing defect and get reported as one.

Replacing the print will not fix it. Only the fit will.

The fix

Measure the ball you are actually packing and cut the die to it. Then check the first sleeve off the die against three real balls before the run continues.

If you pack more than one ball model, expect to need more than one die. That is cheaper than a rejected run, and considerably cheaper than a customer opening a marked pack.

The other direction

Tight is worse than loose in one specific case: an automatic loading line. A sleeve that needs persuading by hand is fine on a kitchen table and useless at run speed.

If the packs will be machine loaded, say so at quote stage and the tolerance is set for it.