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 $13,484 per tonne (IMF via FRED, May 2026), up 41.5% in a year, and U.S. industrial electricity averages 8.66 cents per kWh. Both feed electrified-hardware unit economics.
Steel mill PPI stands at 348.53 (BLS, May 2026), up 6.7% from a year earlier. New factory orders are up 2.3% 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 2026-05-12.