Foundry & Forging calculator

Casting Cleaning Labor Calculator

Size the cleaning labor recorded for a foundry run. Enter average crew coverage, elapsed runtime, burdened labor rate and accepted cleaned output.

What this calculator does

  • Calculate cleaning labor-hours and labor expense from recorded crew coverage and department runtime.

Formula used

  • Cleaning labor-hours = labor-hours per clock hour × runtime
  • Labor expense = cleaning labor-hours × burdened labor rate
  • Labor per accepted casting = labor expense ÷ accepted cleaned castings

Inputs explained

  • Labor-Hours per Clock Hour: Summed crew labor-hours divided by the same elapsed interval.
  • Cleaning Department Runtime: Elapsed operating interval represented by the crew coverage.
  • Burdened Cleaning Labor Rate: Payroll and labor burden per paid labor-hour.
  • Accepted Cleaned Castings: Accepted cleaned output from the recorded interval.

How to use the result

  • Best suited to cleaning crew cost Review, shared labor reconciliation.
  • Abrasives, power, maintenance and machine overhead are excluded. Labor-hours do not establish a safe crew size or finishing procedure.

Current U.S. benchmarks

  • The producer price index for steel mill products stands at 381.162 (BLS, Aug 2026), up 23.4% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
  • The U.S. has 3,569 primary metal manufacturing establishments employing about 354,911 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

  • Can labor-hours per clock hour be fractional? Yes, a worker assigned for only part of the interval contributes a fractional average. Derive the value from total recorded labor-hours divided by elapsed hours.
  • Is machine runtime the same as labor-hours? No, several workers can support one elapsed machine hour. Labor-hours add each worker’s assigned time.
  • Should the rate include abrasives and electricity? No, this rate is labor and payroll burden only. Consumables and machine costs need separate accounting.
  • What if the cleaned castings are later rejected? Use the accepted output basis selected for this job review. Keep all incurred labor in the numerator when the corresponding output is rejected.

Last reviewed 2026-10-06.