S&OP, Demand Planning & Forecasting worked example

Capacity Demand Gap at 99% planned equipment uptime: a worked example

Push planned equipment uptime up to 99% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. Use it when capacity demand gap in s and op, demand planning and forecasting is being asked to take on more work and you need to know if there is room.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Good units produced per cycle: 4 units / cycle (unchanged)
  • Scheduled production cycles available: 480 cycles (unchanged)
  • Planned equipment uptime: 99 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 90)
  • Expected first-pass yield: 97 % (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

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

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where planned equipment 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 multiplies output per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then discounts by uptime and first-pass yield to give good-unit capacity plus the downtime and yield losses. 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 capacity demand gap capacity: 1,844 units (headline result)
  • Gross capacity demand gap capacity: 1,920 units
  • Capacity demand gap downtime loss: 19.2 units
  • Capacity demand gap yield loss: 57.02 units

Run it with your numbers

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

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.