S&OP, Demand Planning & Forecasting worked example

S&OP Cycle Time at 7.2% review, handoff, and delay allowance: a worked example

Suppose review, handoff, and delay allowance falls to 7.2%. This page works the full calculation at that level so you can see exactly which result moves and by how much. Estimate s&op cycle time for sandop, demand planning and forecasting using production-ready inputs so teams can plan labor hours, schedule the work, or check whether the job fits the available shift time.

The inputs for this scenario

  • S&OP tasks to complete per cycle: 120 units (held at the documented default)
  • Task completion throughput: 12 units / min (held at the documented default)
  • Review, handoff, and delay allowance: 7.2 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 10)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Base s&op cycle time = s&op cycle time workload รท s&op cycle time completion rate.
  • Required s&op cycle time works out to 10.72 hr at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Base s&op cycle time works out to 10 hr at these inputs.
  • S&op cycle time allowance applied works out to 7.2 % at these inputs.
  • S&op cycle time completion rate works out to 12 pieces / min at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where review, handoff, and delay allowance sits at 10% and the headline result is 11 hr, this scenario comes in 2.55% below the baseline at 10.72 hr.
  • It computes base cycle time from workload divided by throughput, then inflates it by a review and delay allowance. 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

  • Required s&op cycle time: 10.72 hr (headline result)
  • Base s&op cycle time: 10 hr
  • S&op cycle time allowance applied: 7.2 %
  • S&op cycle time completion rate: 12 pieces / min

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live S&OP Cycle Time calculator, set review, handoff, and delay allowance to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.