Metal Recycling, Scrap Processing & Salvage worked example

Shear/baler Throughput at 65% shear and baler uptime: a worked example

Suppose shear and baler uptime falls to 65%. This page works the full calculation at that level so you can see exactly which result moves and by how much. Estimate shear/baler throughput for metal recycling, scrap processing and salvage using production-ready inputs so teams can confirm whether capacity can cover demand before committing the schedule.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Material processed per shear/baler cycle: 4 units / cycle (held at the documented default)
  • Cycles available this shift: 480 cycles (held at the documented default)
  • Shear/baler uptime: 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • First-pass yield (clean bales): 97 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross shear/baler throughput capacity = shear/baler throughput output per cycle × available shear/baler throughput cycles.
  • Good shear/baler throughput capacity works out to 1,211 units at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Gross shear/baler throughput capacity works out to 1,920 units at these inputs.
  • Shear/baler throughput downtime loss works out to 672 units at these inputs.
  • Shear/baler throughput yield loss works out to 37.44 units at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where shear and baler uptime sits at 90% and the headline result is 1,676 units, this scenario comes in 27.78% below the baseline at 1,211 units.
  • It multiplies output per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then applies uptime and first-pass yield to give good, shippable units. When the numbers land here, the stressed input is the lever to work; the walkthrough above shows exactly how much each output recovers as it climbs back toward the baseline.

Results at a glance

  • Good shear/baler throughput capacity: 1,211 units (headline result)
  • Gross shear/baler throughput capacity: 1,920 units
  • Shear/baler throughput downtime loss: 672 units
  • Shear/baler throughput yield loss: 37.44 units

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Shear/baler Throughput calculator, set shear and baler uptime to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.