NPI, DFM/DFA & Engineering Change worked example

Pre-Production Capacity at 65% expected pre-production capacity uptime: a worked example

Suppose expected pre-production capacity 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 pre-production capacity for npi, dfm/dfa and engineering change using production-ready inputs so teams can confirm whether capacity can cover demand before committing the schedule.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Pre-production capacity output per cycle: 4 units / cycle (held at the documented default)
  • Available pre-production capacity cycles: 480 cycles (held at the documented default)
  • Expected pre-production capacity uptime: 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • Expected pre-production capacity first-pass yield: 97 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

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

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where expected pre-production capacity 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 computes good pre-production output by multiplying gross capacity (output per cycle times available cycles) by expected uptime and first-pass yield, and isolates downtime loss and yield loss. 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 pre-production capacity: 1,211 units (headline result)
  • Gross pre-production capacity: 1,920 units
  • Pre-production capacity downtime loss: 672 units
  • Pre-production capacity yield loss: 37.44 units

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Pre-Production Capacity calculator, set expected pre-production capacity uptime to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.