Production Capacity Calculator
Work out how much your machines can produce in a period.
What this calculator does
Scheduled machine hours are multiplied out, planned downtime is subtracted only if entered, and the remainder is multiplied by the entered rate.
Inputs and what they mean
- Machines or lines running
- — number value.
- Hours per shift
- — number value.
- Shifts per day
- — number value.
- Days in the period
- — A week, a month or whatever period you are planning. No standard month is assumed..
- Units one machine makes per running hour
- — Your own demonstrated rate. No industry rate is supplied..
- Planned downtime in the period (optional)
- — Optional. Leave at 0 to exclude it from the result. Maintenance and planned stops, in machine hours across all machines..
How to use it
- Enter your own figures — the calculator never fills in a rate, price or benchmark for you.
- Press Calculate to see the result.
- Read the formula, variables, assumptions and source below the result before you rely on it.
Formula
Capacity = ((Machines × Hours per shift × Shifts per day × Days in period) − Planned downtime) × Units per running hour
Worked example
Four machines, two shifts, twenty days
Planned downtime is deducted only because it was entered; nothing is assumed.
Reading the result
The headline figure is the main answer. Any breakdown underneath shows the parts that make it up, so you can check the working and see what changes when you adjust an input.
Limitations and assumptions
Results depend entirely on the figures you enter and are rounded for display. They are for general information and education, not professional advice.
Reference: Institute of Management Accountants — Statements on Management Accounting — measuring the cost of capacity
Last reviewed:
Common questions
Formula, source and verification
Scheduled machine hours, less the planned downtime entered, multiplied by the demonstrated rate per running hour.
The question it answers: How much can this line produce in the period, and how much of that did we actually use?
The formula
Capacity = ((Machines × Hours per shift × Shifts per day × Days in period) − Planned downtime) × Units per running hour
- m — Machines
- (count). Machines or lines running in the period.
- h — Hours per shift
- (h). Length of one shift.
- s — Shifts per day
- (count). Shifts run each day.
- d — Days in period
- (count). Days the schedule covers.
- r — Units per running hour
- (count). The organisation's own demonstrated rate.
- D — Planned downtime
- (h). Optional. Planned stops in machine hours across all machines.
Units: Hours in; units of output per period out.
What kind of calculation this is
Deterministic formula. The same inputs always give the same answer. The maths is fixed and does not depend on judgement.
Method
Scheduled machine hours are multiplied out, planned downtime is subtracted only if entered, and the remainder is multiplied by the entered rate.
Assumptions built into the result
- Mathematical: Every quantity, time and rate is the figure the user entered, measured over the period they describe.
- Mathematical: Times and counts refer to the same period and the same resource.
Figures this calculator will never guess for you
- No industry benchmark, target utilisation or target availability is supplied or applied.
- No shift length, break allowance, downtime allowance or standard rate is assumed.
- Optional components are excluded from the result when left at zero.
Limitations
- Arithmetic over the figures entered — it cannot tell whether the measurements behind them are right.
- A measured result, an industry benchmark and an organisation's target are three different things; only the entered figures are used.
- This is nominal capacity from the schedule; it is not a forecast of what the line will actually make.
Source and version
- Standard or reference
- Measuring the cost of capacity — practical, utilised and idle capacity — IMA (IMA Statements on Management Accounting, measuring the cost of capacity — capacity is the output the resources could produce in the period, and utilisation is the output actually achieved as a share of it.)
- Published source
- Institute of Management Accountants — Statements on Management Accounting
- Formula version
- Version 1
- Verification
- Reviewed against the cited source on
- How much weight the source carries
- Standards or government
- Applies to
- Currency
- The result is a ratio or index, so it does not depend on currency.
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