Foundry & Forging calculator

Foundry Demand and Capacity Calculator

Find the stage that limits a foundry production plan. Enter demand and sustainable molding, pouring and finishing capacities in accepted-part equivalents for the same window.

What this calculator does

  • Compare required output with the lowest sustainable capacity across molding, pouring and finishing.

Formula used

  • Limiting capacity = minimum(molding, pouring, finishing capacities)
  • Demand against capacity = required parts ÷ limiting capacity × 100
  • Capacity margin = limiting capacity − required parts
  • Uncovered demand = maximum(0, required parts − limiting capacity)

Inputs explained

  • Required Accepted Parts: Accepted-part demand for one planning window.
  • Molding Accepted-Part Capacity: Sustainable molding capacity converted to accepted finished-part equivalents.
  • Pouring Accepted-Part Capacity: Sustainable pouring capacity on the same accepted-part basis.
  • Finishing Accepted-Part Capacity: Sustainable finishing capacity in the same planning window.

How to use the result

  • Best suited to foundry stage balancing, order feasibility review.
  • Buffers, transfer delays and short-term starvation can reduce actual output. The smallest capacity identifies a planning constraint, not its physical cause.

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

  • Why is the old severity score gone? A subjective score does not measure throughput. The new percentage compares measurable demand with the limiting stage capacity.
  • What if two stages have the same capacity? Both are identified as limiting. Increasing just one may leave the other as the constraint.
  • Should I multiply capacity by utilization again? No. Enter sustainable capacity that already includes the relevant time and acceptance losses.
  • What does zero capacity mean? That stage cannot support output in this window. A demand ratio requires positive capacity at every entered stage.

Last reviewed 2026-10-06.