Thermoforming & Vacuum Formed Products worked example

Packaging Count at 65% machine uptime availability: a worked example in thermoforming & vacuum formed products

Suppose machine uptime availability falls to 65%. This page works the full calculation at that level so you can see exactly which result moves and by how much. A thermoforming press producing dozens of cavities per index makes it easy to overstate capacity by multiplying cavities against clock time, but uptime and yield losses quietly eat into every shift.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Formed parts per forming cycle: 4 units / cycle (held at the documented default)
  • Scheduled forming cycles available: 480 cycles (held at the documented default)
  • Machine uptime availability: 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • First-pass part yield: 97 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross packaging count capacity = units per cycle × available cycles.
  • Good output capacity works out to 1,211 units at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Gross capacity works out to 1,920 units at these inputs.
  • Uptime loss works out to 672 units at these inputs.
  • Yield loss works out to 37.44 units at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where machine uptime availability sits at 90% and the headline result is 1,676 units, this scenario comes in 27.78% below the baseline at 1,211 units.
  • It computes gross forming capacity and then the good saleable count after applying machine uptime and first-pass yield losses. 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

  • Good output capacity: 1,211 units (headline result)
  • Gross capacity: 1,920 units
  • Uptime loss: 672 units
  • Yield loss: 37.44 units

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Packaging Count calculator, set machine uptime availability to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.