Tube, Pipe & Profile Forming worked example

Fixture Capacity at 65% fixture uptime: a worked example in tube, pipe & profile forming

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop fixture uptime to 65%, then walk the calculation through step by step. Fixture Capacity tells a tube- and profile-forming shop how many conforming parts a forming fixture or roll-form station can actually deliver in a shift, not just its theoretical maximum.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Formed tubes per fixture cycle: 4 units / cycle (held at the documented default)
  • Available forming cycles per shift: 480 cycles (held at the documented default)
  • Fixture uptime (spindle/clamp availability): 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • First-pass yield after forming: 97 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross fixture capacity 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 fixture uptime sits at 90% and the headline result is 1,676 units, this scenario comes in 27.78% below the baseline at 1,211 units.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to fixture uptime, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It treats uptime and yield as flat averages; a fixture that scraps heavily during the first-off setup or degrades as tooling wears will not follow a single steady percentage.

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 Fixture Capacity calculator, set fixture uptime to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.