Capacity Planner | CWX Workflow Tools
CWX_WORKFLOW_TOOLS// MOD 05 · CAPACITY ← OPS CONSOLE

Ops Console / Module 05 / Capacity

Capacity Planner

Know when you are full before you promise.

Saying yes to work you cannot fit is how lead times blow out and customers walk. This planner balances the productive hours you have against the hours your job mix needs, so you can see your real utilization and decide, with a number, whether to take more on.

Time10 min
FormatCapacity calculator
SavesPDF · JSON record
← Job CostProduction module

What it is

A simple balance: the productive hours you have against the hours your current job mix actually needs. It turns a gut feeling about being slammed into a number.

When to use it

When deciding whether to take more work, add a shift, or quote a longer lead time. Utilization over 100% means something will be late.

How to run it

Set your stations, hours, and uptime to get available hours. List the job mix with quantities and minutes each, and the tool sums the demand.

Available capacity

Demand (job mix)

Job / productQuantityMin / unitHours
–
Available hours
–
Required hours
–
Utilization
–
Headroom

Available = stations x hours x days x uptime. Utilization = required / available. Over 100% means the mix will not fit the period as planned.

Saved

Worked example: a print week

Three stations, 8 hours a day, 5 days, at 85% uptime give about 102 available hours. The week's mix, 200 signs at 6 minutes, 80 banners at 9 minutes, and 500 decals at 2 minutes, needs about 49 hours. Utilization is roughly 48%, with 53 hours of headroom. There is clearly room to take more work, or to absorb a rush without overtime.