How do you calculate labor per tray?

Multiply trays produced by the loaded labor rate and the allocation factor, add fixed setup cost, then divide by tray count. For 100 trays at $45/unit, 80% allocation and $250 setup, that is $3,850 total, or $38.50 per tray.

What is a good labor cost per thermoformed tray?

It depends heavily on automation. Fully automated formers with robotic stacking can run pennies per tray, while hand-trimmed or hand-assembled specialty trays can exceed a dollar. The right benchmark is your competitor's automation level, not an absolute number.

Why include an allocation factor instead of full labor?

Operators rarely spend 100% of their time on one run; they cover multiple machines, breaks and indirect tasks. The 80% factor in the example charges only the share of labor genuinely attributable to this tray run.

How do I lower labor per tray?

Attack the manual steps first: in-line trim-in-place tooling, automatic denesting and robotic stacking remove the highest-labor operations. Reducing changeover frequency also shrinks the fixed setup cost spread across the run.

Labor per tray vs machine cost per tray, which should I quote on?

Quote on both together. Labor per tray captures the human handling, machine cost per tray captures depreciation and energy; a tray that looks cheap on machine time can lose money if it needs heavy hand-finishing.

Does the fixed cost cover changeover?

Yes, the fixed setup and changeover cost input is where you place tooling swap, mold heat-up and first-article inspection labor so it is amortized across the whole run rather than buried in the per-piece rate.

Thermoforming & Vacuum Formed Products calculator

Labor Per Tray Calculator

Labor is often the second-largest cost after resin on a thermoforming line, and it hides in trimming, stacking, inspection and secondary assembly that machine cycle time alone never captures. The Labor Per Tray calculator rolls your tray output, fully-loaded labor rate, the share of labor directly chargeable to the run, and fixed setup cost into a clean per-tray number. Estimators and plant managers use it to quote deli, produce and medical trays competitively and to spot lines where manual demolding or hand-trimming is quietly inflating cost. Because a few cents per tray decides whether you win a high-volume packaging contract, getting labor allocation right is a margin lever, not a rounding exercise.

What this calculator does

Labor is often the second-largest cost after resin on a thermoforming line, and it hides in trimming, stacking, inspection and secondary assembly that machine cycle time alone never captures.
Use it when labor per tray in thermoforming and vacuum formed products is being put through a thermoforming and vacuum formed products weighted-cost review.
It computes the total labor cost and the per-tray labor cost by weighting output against a loaded rate, an allocation factor and a fixed setup charge.

Formula used

Labor Per Tray cost = quantity × rate × capture factor + fixed cost
Per-unit labor per tray = total cost ÷ quantity

Inputs explained

Trays produced per shift:
Fully-loaded labor rate per tray:
Direct-labor allocation factor:
Fixed setup and changeover cost:

How to use the result

Use it when quoting a tray program, comparing manual versus automated trimming, or reconciling standard labor cost against actual shift output.
It assumes a steady-state run rate and does not separate skilled trimming labor from unskilled stacking, so mixed-skill cells may need a blended rate.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for plastic resins and materials stands at 319.371 (BLS, May 2026), up 19.5% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
The U.S. has 9,635 plastics product manufacturing establishments employing about 677,302 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

How do you calculate labor per tray? Multiply trays produced by the loaded labor rate and the allocation factor, add fixed setup cost, then divide by tray count. For 100 trays at $45/unit, 80% allocation and $250 setup, that is $3,850 total, or $38.50 per tray.
What is a good labor cost per thermoformed tray? It depends heavily on automation. Fully automated formers with robotic stacking can run pennies per tray, while hand-trimmed or hand-assembled specialty trays can exceed a dollar. The right benchmark is your competitor's automation level, not an absolute number.
Why include an allocation factor instead of full labor? Operators rarely spend 100% of their time on one run; they cover multiple machines, breaks and indirect tasks. The 80% factor in the example charges only the share of labor genuinely attributable to this tray run.
How do I lower labor per tray? Attack the manual steps first: in-line trim-in-place tooling, automatic denesting and robotic stacking remove the highest-labor operations. Reducing changeover frequency also shrinks the fixed setup cost spread across the run.
Labor per tray vs machine cost per tray, which should I quote on? Quote on both together. Labor per tray captures the human handling, machine cost per tray captures depreciation and energy; a tray that looks cheap on machine time can lose money if it needs heavy hand-finishing.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.