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Free calculator · 3 minutes

See what lost production time may be costing you.

Enter one month of figures. You will see the line-hours and units you may be losing, what that capacity could be worth and which loss to check first.

Your production month

Start with lines or machines that run at about the same speed.

Use the same currency for every money field. This changes symbols only. It does not convert values.
1. Available production time

First, set how much time this group was scheduled to produce before anything went wrong.

Only group equipment that produces at a similar hourly rate.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the number of lines or machines included in this calculation.

Why it matters

Stopped time and available time add up across every line, so the group size changes the total capacity.

Example

Four similar filling lines means enter 4.

Leave out full shutdown days when no production was planned.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the number of days this group was expected to run during the month you are checking.

Why it matters

This sets the calendar available for production before downtime, slow running or rejects are counted.

Example

If the plant ran Monday to Friday for five weeks, enter 25.

If the pattern changes, use the average for this month.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the usual number of production shifts each scheduled day.

Why it matters

More shifts create more available production time. Using the wrong shift pattern can overstate or understate every result.

Example

Two regular shifts and an occasional third shift might average 2.1.

Remove planned breaks, cleaning and planned shutdowns.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter hours when the line was meant to be producing during one shift.

Why it matters

Planned non-production time is not a loss. Removing it prevents the calculator from calling lunch breaks or planned cleaning downtime.

Example

An 8.5-hour shift with 30 minutes of planned breaks means enter 8.

Use a rate the line can sustain on a normal day, not its record speed.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the good-unit rate one line or machine should hold under normal operating conditions.

Why it matters

This rate converts lost time and slow running into units. An inflated target makes every loss look larger than it is.

Example

If the line usually holds 100 good units per hour when running well, enter 100.

2. What reduced output

Use one typical month. Keep stopped time, slow running and quality problems separate so the same missing unit is counted once.

Add unplanned stopped time from every selected line or machine.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the combined hours when production should have been running but was stopped.

Why it matters

The calculator multiplies these stopped hours by the normal hourly rate to estimate output not produced.

Example

If four lines each lost 24 hours, enter 96, not 24.

Compare actual hourly output with the normal rate above.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter actual running output as a percentage of the normal hourly rate. Do not include hours when the line was stopped.

Why it matters

This separates output lost through slow running from output already counted as downtime.

Example

A line producing 85 units per hour against a normal rate of 100 is running at 85%.

Use the share of produced units that were not good first time.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the percentage of produced units that were scrapped, rejected or needed more work before they could ship.

Why it matters

Production time spent on unusable or unfinished units is a separate quality loss.

Example

Four rejected or reworked units out of every 100 means enter 4%.

Finance teams call this contribution margin: selling price minus variable material, packaging and energy costs.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the money left from one additional good unit after costs that rise when you make that unit.

Why it matters

This values recoverable output more credibly than revenue. It avoids treating avoided material cost as lost profit.

Example

A $50 selling price minus $37.50 of variable cost leaves $12.50.

3. Test one recovery move

Test a realistic improvement. This is more useful than assuming every loss can disappear.

Choose a realistic first target, not the full downtime total.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the percentage of current downtime you believe could be removed.

Why it matters

This turns the total problem into a bounded opportunity you can compare with the cost of maintenance or process changes.

Example

Reducing 96 stopped hours by 20% would recover 19.2 hours before speed and quality are considered.

Use a wider range when records are incomplete or rates vary.
What counts here?

What to enter

Choose how far the final money estimate should move below and above the central result.

Why it matters

A visible range avoids false precision when downtime logs, normal rates or margins are estimates.

Example

A ±10% range turns a $100,000 estimate into $90,000 to $110,000.

Put the result in terms people already use

These are illustrative assumptions, not industry benchmarks. Replace any figure you know. They do not change the production-loss calculation.

Use one representative monthly salary in the currency chosen above.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the typical monthly base salary for one production operator.

Why it matters

This turns the capacity estimate into an equivalent number of operator-months. It does not recommend changing headcount.

Use what remains after variable costs, not the order's total revenue.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the contribution margin normally earned from one representative order.

Why it matters

This shows how many typical orders the monthly capacity estimate could represent.

Use the installed cost of equipment people in your business recognise.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the approximate investment needed to buy and install one relevant machine.

Why it matters

This compares the annual capacity estimate with a familiar capital decision. It is not a recommendation to buy equipment.

Use the normal monthly budget for the area or site being discussed.

What counts here?

What to enter

Enter the planned maintenance spend for one typical month.

Why it matters

This compares the monthly capacity estimate with a budget managers already review.

Estimated value of production capacity at risk

$0

Sensitivity range: $0 to $0 per month

0line-hours lost
0units not produced
0%capacity gap

Where the loss comes from

Downtime

Running below standard

Rejects and rework

Recovery scenario

20% less downtime could recover $0 per year.

Start here

What to check next

    Check this before buying equipment or software. One month of evidence can show whether the loss comes from one repeatable cause or several unrelated problems.

    Make the loss easier to picture

    What else is that capacity worth?

    These comparisons use the assumptions above. Change them to match your business. They do not assume that every missing unit could have been sold.

    operator-months of salary

    average orders each month

    representative machines per year

    months of maintenance budget

    Keep the full result

    Get your estimate and next-step checklist by email.

    Take the same numbers into a production review with operations, maintenance and finance.

    • • Your monthly and annual estimate
    • • The calculation behind each loss
    • • Which loss costs the most and what to check next
    • • What your downtime target could recover

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    Share the result with your team.

    Send the headline, capacity gap and biggest loss to production, maintenance or finance.

    Use the number carefully

    A capacity estimate is a starting point, not an accounting loss.

    See how the calculation avoids double counting, uses contribution margin and turns the estimate into an improvement worth testing.

    Read the calculation guide

    Want to check this against real production data?

    Bring one line, one month and the records you already have. We will check the assumptions with you and trace the biggest loss before you commit to a wider system.

    Talk through my result