Metal Recycling, Scrap Processing & Salvage worked example

Truck Scale Capacity at 99% scale & traffic uptime: a worked example

Push scale & traffic uptime up to 99% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. Use it when truck scale capacity in metal recycling, scrap processing and salvage is being asked to take on more work and you need to know if there is room.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Trucks weighed per scale cycle: 4 units / cycle (unchanged)
  • Available weighing cycles per shift: 480 cycles (unchanged)
  • Scale & traffic uptime: 99 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 90)
  • Clean-ticket first-pass yield: 97 % (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Gross truck scale capacity = truck scale capacity output per cycle × available truck scale capacity cycles) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 1,844 units for good truck scale capacity, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 1,920 units for gross truck scale capacity.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 19.2 units for truck scale capacity downtime loss.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 57.02 units for truck scale capacity yield loss.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where scale & traffic uptime sits at 90% and the headline result is 1,676 units, this scenario comes in 10% above the baseline at 1,844 units.
  • It computes good truck weighings per shift after derating gross scale capacity for uptime and clean-ticket first-pass yield. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Good truck scale capacity: 1,844 units (headline result)
  • Gross truck scale capacity: 1,920 units
  • Truck scale capacity downtime loss: 19.2 units
  • Truck scale capacity yield loss: 57.02 units

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Truck Scale Capacity calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.