Greenhouse, Indoor Farming & Agri-Processing worked example

Labor per Tray at 17% setup, break, and travel allowance: a worked example

What does the result look like when setup, break, and travel allowance reaches 17%? The full calculation is worked below with real intermediate numbers. Use it when sizing a propagation crew, planning microgreens harvest, or pricing contract growing per tray for a co-pack customer.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Trays to handle this shift: 240 trays (unchanged)
  • Tray-handling rate per operator: 1.5 trays / min (unchanged)
  • Setup, break, and travel allowance: 17 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 15)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Base tray-handling time = trays to handle this shift รท tray-handling rate per operator) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 187 hr for required labor time per shift, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 160 hr for base tray-handling time.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 17 % for setup, break, and travel allowance.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 1.5 pieces / min for tray-handling rate per operator.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where setup, break, and travel allowance sits at 15% and the headline result is 184 hr, this scenario comes in 1.74% above the baseline at 187 hr.
  • A figure at this level is achievable when setup, break, and travel allowance is genuinely sustained, not just peaked for a shift. It assumes a single steady handling rate; mixed tray sizes, learning curves, or equipment downtime can move actual time well off the estimate.

Results at a glance

  • Required labor time per shift: 187 hr (headline result)
  • Base tray-handling time: 160 hr
  • Setup, break, and travel allowance: 17 %
  • Tray-handling rate per operator: 1.5 pieces / min

Run it with your numbers

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

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.