How do you calculate flight unit rework cost?

Multiply rework touch hours by the loaded technician rate and the yield-loss factor, then add the retest and inspection charge. With 60 hours at $145/hr, an 85% factor, plus a $4,200 retest charge, total rework is $11,595.

What is a good rework cost per hour on flight hardware?

Once retest is amortized, expect roughly $150-$250 per touch hour on flight avionics. The example lands at $193.25 per hour across 60 hours, which is typical when a $4,200 retest charge is spread over the labor.

Why include a yield loss factor?

Not every rework fully recovers the unit; some touch time is spent on attempts that partially succeed or that must be redone. The 85% factor here reflects that effective recovery, giving $7,395 of variable labor cost.

Should I rework or scrap a flight unit?

Compare this total against the replacement build cost plus schedule impact. If $11,595 of rework is well below the cost of a new flight unit and its lead time, rework wins, but only if the retest fully re-qualifies the article.

What goes into the retest and inspection charge?

The fixed cost to re-qualify a reworked unit, functional retest, environmental re-screen if required, and re-inspection with buyoff. Here that fixed adder is $4,200 regardless of how many hours the rework took.

Is the loaded technician rate just wages?

No. It should include benefits, ESD-controlled workstation overhead, tooling, and supervision, typically 2 to 3 times base wage. The $145/hr in the example is a fully loaded flight-rework rate.

Space Payload & Avionics Manufacturing calculator

Flight Unit Rework Calculator

Flight unit rework cost is the real price of fixing a space payload or avionics assembly after it has failed inspection or test, rather than scrapping it. On flight hardware the labor is slow and deliberate, ESD controls, rework travelers, and second-person verification, so touch hours carry a loaded rate well above general electronics. Manufacturing engineers and cost estimators use this metric to decide rework-versus-scrap, to size rework labor for a lot, and to feed cost-of-poor-quality reporting. Because every reworked flight unit must also be retested and re-inspected, the retest charge is often the hidden half of the bill.

What this calculator does

Estimates the labor and retest cost to rework a space flight unit after a defect or design change.
A production lead quoting the cost of pulling a flight unit back to the bench for rework and re-acceptance.
It computes total rework cost as touch hours times the loaded technician rate times a yield-loss factor, plus a fixed retest and inspection charge, and reports cost per touch hour.

Formula used

Total rework = touch hours x loaded rate x yield loss factor + retest and inspection charge
Rework cost per hour = total rework / touch hours

Inputs explained

Rework Touch Hours:
Loaded Technician Rate:
Rework Yield Loss Factor:
Retest and Inspection Charge:

How to use the result

Use it when weighing rework against scrap on a flight unit, budgeting rework labor for a production lot, or capturing cost of poor quality for a program.
The yield loss factor is a single blended number; a rework that itself introduces a new defect and loops back through test is not captured by one pass.

Current U.S. benchmarks

Global copper trades at $13,543 per tonne (IMF via FRED, Jul 2026), up 38.6% in a year, and U.S. industrial electricity averages 8.71 cents per kWh. Both feed electrified-hardware unit economics.
Steel mill PPI stands at 374.203 (BLS, Jul 2026), up 22.5% from a year earlier. New factory orders are up 7.4% year over year (Census).

Common questions

How do you calculate flight unit rework cost? Multiply rework touch hours by the loaded technician rate and the yield-loss factor, then add the retest and inspection charge. With 60 hours at $145/hr, an 85% factor, plus a $4,200 retest charge, total rework is $11,595.
What is a good rework cost per hour on flight hardware? Once retest is amortized, expect roughly $150-$250 per touch hour on flight avionics. The example lands at $193.25 per hour across 60 hours, which is typical when a $4,200 retest charge is spread over the labor.
Why include a yield loss factor? Not every rework fully recovers the unit; some touch time is spent on attempts that partially succeed or that must be redone. The 85% factor here reflects that effective recovery, giving $7,395 of variable labor cost.
Should I rework or scrap a flight unit? Compare this total against the replacement build cost plus schedule impact. If $11,595 of rework is well below the cost of a new flight unit and its lead time, rework wins, but only if the retest fully re-qualifies the article.
What goes into the retest and inspection charge? The fixed cost to re-qualify a reworked unit, functional retest, environmental re-screen if required, and re-inspection with buyoff. Here that fixed adder is $4,200 regardless of how many hours the rework took.

Last reviewed 2026-07-13.