How do you calculate casting yield?

Divide the good casting weight by the total metal poured, then multiply by 100. With 4,200 lb of good castings from 6,000 lb poured, that is 4,200 ÷ 6,000 × 100 = 70% yield.

What is a good casting yield?

It depends heavily on alloy and process: sand castings often run 50-65%, while well-rigged investment or high-pressure die castings can exceed 80%. The 70% in the example is solid for many sand-cast geometries.

Why is casting yield so low compared to machining?

Castings need risers and gating to feed shrinkage and fill cleanly, and that metal is intrinsic to making a sound part. Unlike machining, the 'lost' metal isn't waste from error — it is the feeding system, though good methoding minimizes it.

Does remelting risers and gates count against yield?

Yield is measured on a single pour, so risers and gates always count against it even though you remelt them. Remelt recovers the metal but costs energy and adds melt loss, which is exactly why higher yield saves money.

How can I improve casting yield?

Optimize riser size and placement, use exothermic sleeves or chills to feed more efficiently, tighten gating ratios, and consider yield-driven methoding simulation. Even a 2-point gain, as in the example's gap to a 72% target, frees real furnace capacity.

Is casting yield the same as foundry returns?

No. Returns (or revert) are the gates and risers you send back to melt. Yield is the percentage of poured metal that ships; returns are part of what makes yield less than 100%.

Foundry & Forging calculator

Casting Yield Calculator

Casting yield is the ratio of saleable, good casting weight to the total metal poured, and it is one of the most consequential numbers in a foundry's P&L. Every pound that ends up in risers, gates, runners, sprues, or scrap is metal you melted, alloyed, and energized but cannot ship, so methoding engineers, melt-deck supervisors, and plant managers obsess over it. Higher yield means less remelt, lower energy cost per good pound, and more furnace capacity for saleable work. It is the metric that justifies rigging redesigns, riser optimization, and the move to chills or exothermic sleeves, and it sits at the center of any foundry cost-down program.

What this calculator does

Calculate casting yield by comparing finished good casting weight or good casting count against total poured or produced weight/count.
Use it when a foundry manager, process engineer, or estimator needs to quantify how much poured metal becomes saleable castings after gates, risers, scrap, and rework.
It divides good casting output by total metal poured or produced and multiplies by 100, then subtracts your target to show the yield gap in points.

Formula used

Casting Yield rate = good casting output ÷ total poured or produced metal × 100
Casting Yield gap to target = calculated rate - target casting yield

Inputs explained

Good casting output: Enter accepted casting weight or good casting count after shakeout, cutoff, cleaning, inspection, and rework decisions.
Total poured or produced metal: Use total pour weight, melt issued, or castings produced for the same alloy, part number, heat, mold line, or lot.
Target casting yield: Use the routing standard, quote assumption, historical yield, or improvement target.

How to use the result

Use it per heat, per pattern, or as a plant rolling average to see how much of your melted metal actually becomes shippable product.
Weight yield says nothing about internal soundness — a high yield with shrinkage porosity is worse than a slightly lower yield that ships clean, so read it alongside reject and radiography data.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for steel mill products stands at 348.53 (BLS, May 2026), up 6.7% 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

How do you calculate casting yield? Divide the good casting weight by the total metal poured, then multiply by 100. With 4,200 lb of good castings from 6,000 lb poured, that is 4,200 ÷ 6,000 × 100 = 70% yield.
What is a good casting yield? It depends heavily on alloy and process: sand castings often run 50-65%, while well-rigged investment or high-pressure die castings can exceed 80%. The 70% in the example is solid for many sand-cast geometries.
Why is casting yield so low compared to machining? Castings need risers and gating to feed shrinkage and fill cleanly, and that metal is intrinsic to making a sound part. Unlike machining, the 'lost' metal isn't waste from error — it is the feeding system, though good methoding minimizes it.
Does remelting risers and gates count against yield? Yield is measured on a single pour, so risers and gates always count against it even though you remelt them. Remelt recovers the metal but costs energy and adds melt loss, which is exactly why higher yield saves money.
How can I improve casting yield? Optimize riser size and placement, use exothermic sleeves or chills to feed more efficiently, tighten gating ratios, and consider yield-driven methoding simulation. Even a 2-point gain, as in the example's gap to a 72% target, frees real furnace capacity.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.