Forklifts, Lift Equipment & Material Handling Vehicles worked example

Counterweight Sizing at 99% counterweight station availability: a worked example

Push counterweight station availability up to 99% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. Use it when comparing counterweight package throughput, ballast handling, casting supply, or approved counterweight capacity work tied to a lift-truck model or load application.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Counterweight packages per cycle: 1 packages / cycle (unchanged)
  • Available counterweight handling cycles: 36 cycles (unchanged)
  • Counterweight station availability: 99 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 90)
  • Counterweight first-pass acceptance: 97 % (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Gross counterweight sizing capacity = counterweight packages per cycle × available counterweight handling cycles) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 34.57 lb for good counterweight sizing capacity, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 36 lb for gross counterweight sizing capacity.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 0.36 lb for counterweight sizing downtime loss.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 1.07 lb for counterweight sizing reject or rework loss.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where counterweight station availability sits at 90% and the headline result is 31.43 lb, this scenario comes in 10% above the baseline at 34.57 lb.
  • It computes the good (downtime- and reject-adjusted) counterweight sizing capacity in pounds from the cycle output, available cycles, station availability and first-pass acceptance. 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 counterweight sizing capacity: 34.57 lb (headline result)
  • Gross counterweight sizing capacity: 36 lb
  • Counterweight Sizing downtime loss: 0.36 lb
  • Counterweight Sizing reject or rework loss: 1.07 lb

Run it with your numbers

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

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.