Conveyors worked example

Required Stations at 99% expected station uptime: a worked example

Push expected station uptime up to 99% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. an industrial engineer needs to test station-count scenarios before freezing a line layout

The inputs for this scenario

  • Candidate station count: 5 stations (unchanged)
  • Cycles per station in period: 520 cycles / station (unchanged)
  • Expected station uptime: 99 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 90)
  • Expected station yield: 98 % (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Gross station capacity = station count × cycles per station) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 2,523 good units / period for good capacity from candidate stations, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 2,600 units / period for gross candidate-station capacity.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 26 units / period for capacity lost to station downtime.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 51.48 units / period for capacity lost to station yield.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where expected station uptime sits at 90% and the headline result is 2,293 good units / period, this scenario comes in 10% above the baseline at 2,523 good units / period.
  • It computes the good-unit capacity of a candidate set of stations by multiplying station count and cycles, then derating for uptime and yield. 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

  • Good capacity from candidate stations: 2,523 good units / period (headline result)
  • Gross candidate-station capacity: 2,600 units / period
  • Capacity lost to station downtime: 26 units / period
  • Capacity lost to station yield: 51.48 units / period

Run it with your numbers

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

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.