Conveyors worked example

Required Stations at 65% expected station uptime: a worked example

This worked example runs the required stations numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: 65% expected station uptime instead of the typical 90%. Estimate good capacity from candidate station count, station cycles, uptime, and yield to judge how many stations are needed.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Candidate station count: 5 stations (held at the documented default)
  • Cycles per station in period: 520 cycles / station (held at the documented default)
  • Expected station uptime: 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • Expected station yield: 98 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross station capacity = station count × cycles per station.
  • Good capacity from candidate stations works out to 1,656 good units / period at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Gross candidate-station capacity works out to 2,600 units / period at these inputs.
  • Capacity lost to station downtime works out to 910 units / period at these inputs.
  • Capacity lost to station yield works out to 33.8 units / period at these inputs.

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 27.78% below the baseline at 1,656 good units / period.
  • Use it when planning a new conveyor cell, adding parallel stations, or validating that an existing line can absorb a demand increase. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Good capacity from candidate stations: 1,656 good units / period (headline result)
  • Gross candidate-station capacity: 2,600 units / period
  • Capacity lost to station downtime: 910 units / period
  • Capacity lost to station yield: 33.8 units / period

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Required Stations calculator, set expected station uptime to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.