How do you calculate shakeout capacity?

Multiply units per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then multiply by availability and yield. Here 6 x 70 = 420 gross, x 88% x 97% = about 359 good units.

What is gross vs good shakeout capacity?

Gross is the theoretical count if nothing broke and every casting passed. Good capacity subtracts downtime and reject losses, giving the number you can actually promise the schedule.

What is a good shakeout equipment availability?

A maintained vibratory or rotary shakeout typically runs 85-92% available. Below 80% suggests deck wear, drive issues, or frequent sand-jam clearing.

How much do reject losses cut shakeout output?

At 97% accepted yield on 420 gross units after downtime, rework and rejects still cost about 11 units. Even a couple of yield points is real lost throughput over a shift.

How do I match shakeout capacity to my pouring line?

Compare good shakeout capacity to molds poured per shift. Good capacity must equal or exceed pour rate, or poured molds queue and cooling time drifts out of spec.

Why use accepted yield instead of overall scrap?

Accepted yield isolates the fraction of shaken-out castings that pass at this station, separate from later machining scrap, so you size the shakeout on what it genuinely delivers.

Foundry & Forging calculator

Shakeout Capacity Calculator

Shakeout capacity tells a foundry how many sound castings actually clear the shakeout station once downtime and reject losses are taken out of the gross count. Production planners and shakeout-line supervisors use it to confirm the shakeout can keep pace with the molding and pouring lines feeding it. Shakeout is a classic bottleneck: if it can't separate castings from sand fast enough, poured molds back up and the whole loop stalls. Sizing it on good units, not gross units, is what keeps the schedule honest.

What this calculator does

Estimate good shakeout output capacity for molds, castings, or poured molds per shift.
Use it when deciding whether shakeout, knockout, cooling, and mold handling can keep up with the molding and pouring schedule.
It computes good (sellable) shakeout output by multiplying gross capacity by equipment availability and accepted yield.

Formula used

Gross shakeout capacity = castings or molds per shakeout cycle × available shakeout cycles
Good shakeout capacity = gross capacity × shakeout equipment availability × accepted shakeout yield

Inputs explained

Castings or molds per shakeout cycle:
Available shakeout cycles:
Shakeout equipment availability:
Accepted shakeout yield:

How to use the result

Use it when checking whether the shakeout station can absorb the mold-per-shift rate coming off the pouring line, or when planning a capacity change.
It treats availability and yield as fixed averages; a worn vibratory deck or a bad sand-burn run can drop either sharply within a single shift.

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 shakeout capacity? Multiply units per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then multiply by availability and yield. Here 6 x 70 = 420 gross, x 88% x 97% = about 359 good units.
What is gross vs good shakeout capacity? Gross is the theoretical count if nothing broke and every casting passed. Good capacity subtracts downtime and reject losses, giving the number you can actually promise the schedule.
What is a good shakeout equipment availability? A maintained vibratory or rotary shakeout typically runs 85-92% available. Below 80% suggests deck wear, drive issues, or frequent sand-jam clearing.
How much do reject losses cut shakeout output? At 97% accepted yield on 420 gross units after downtime, rework and rejects still cost about 11 units. Even a couple of yield points is real lost throughput over a shift.
How do I match shakeout capacity to my pouring line? Compare good shakeout capacity to molds poured per shift. Good capacity must equal or exceed pour rate, or poured molds queue and cooling time drifts out of spec.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.