Circular Economy, Recycling & Remanufacturing worked example

Disassembly Labor Load at 25% teardown setup, sorting, and handling allowance: a worked example

Push teardown setup, sorting, and handling allowance up to 25% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. a team needs to schedule disassembly labor, stations, and downstream sorting capacity for a disassembly work order

The inputs for this scenario

  • Products or cores to disassemble: 420 units (unchanged)
  • Disassembly completion rate: 1.6 units / min (unchanged)
  • Teardown setup, sorting, and handling allowance: 25 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 22)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Base disassembly labor load = products or cores to disassemble รท disassembly completion rate) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 328 min for required disassembly labor load, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 263 min for base disassembly labor load.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 25 % for teardown setup, sorting, and handling allowance applied.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 1.6 pieces / min for disassembly completion rate.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where teardown setup, sorting, and handling allowance sits at 22% and the headline result is 320 min, this scenario comes in 2.46% above the baseline at 328 min.
  • It computes required teardown minutes by dividing units by the disassembly completion rate to get base time, then scaling that up by a setup, sorting, and handling allowance. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Required disassembly labor load: 328 min (headline result)
  • Base disassembly labor load: 263 min
  • Teardown setup, sorting, and handling allowance applied: 25 %
  • Disassembly completion rate: 1.6 pieces / min

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Disassembly Labor Load calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.