How do you calculate good production capacity?

Multiply output per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then multiply by uptime and first-pass yield. At 4 units/cycle over 480 cycles with 90% uptime and 97% yield, good capacity is about 1,676 units.

What is the difference between gross and good capacity?

Gross capacity (1,920 units here) is the theoretical output if nothing went wrong. Good capacity (1,676) is what remains after downtime removes 192 units and yield loss removes about 52 more.

What is a capacity gap and how do I use it?

The capacity gap is the shortfall between good deliverable capacity and your demand commitment. Compare the good-capacity figure to the units the order requires; if demand exceeds it, you have a gap to close with more cycles, better uptime, or higher yield.

Why does first-pass yield matter more than it looks?

Yield loss compounds after downtime, so it acts on already-reduced volume. Even a modest 3% yield loss strips 52 units here, and in medical sensor lines where multiple test stations each shed yield, the stacked effect is larger.

How can I close a capacity gap?

Add available cycles (shifts or lines), raise uptime by cutting changeover and unplanned stops, or improve first-pass yield. Yield and uptime gains are often cheaper than adding capital because they recover capacity you already paid for.

Does this account for rework recovering some units?

No. It counts only first-pass good units. If your rework cell recovers scrapped units, actual shippable output can be higher — model that separately with a rework calculator.

Wearable Medical Sensors calculator

Capacity Gap Calculator

Capacity Gap translates a wearable medical sensor line's theoretical throughput into the good, shippable units you can actually deliver in a window once uptime and first-pass yield take their cut. Operations planners and program managers use it to compare real deliverable capacity against a customer commitment and expose the gap before it becomes a missed ship date. Because sensor assembly stacks lamination, placement, and functional test — each with its own yield and downtime — gross cycle math badly overstates what leaves the door. This calculator strips gross capacity down to good capacity and shows exactly how many units are lost to downtime versus scrap.

What this calculator does

Estimate capacity gap for wearable medical sensors using production-ready inputs so teams can confirm whether capacity can cover demand before committing the schedule.
Use it when capacity gap in wearable medical sensors is being asked to take on more work and you need to know if there is room.
It multiplies output per cycle by available cycles to get gross capacity, then derates it by uptime and first-pass yield to give the good units you can actually ship.

Formula used

Gross capacity gap capacity = capacity gap output per cycle × available capacity gap cycles
Good capacity gap capacity = gross capacity × expected capacity gap uptime × expected capacity gap first-pass yield

Inputs explained

Sensor units built per cycle:
Available production cycles in the window:
Expected equipment uptime:
Expected first-pass yield:

How to use the result

Use it during capacity planning, order acceptance, or line balancing to check whether real deliverable output covers a demand commitment.
It applies single uptime and yield factors uniformly; it does not model bottleneck stations, learning-curve improvement, or rework recovery that could add some scrapped units back.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for copper and brass mill shapes stands at 559.593 (BLS, May 2026), up 76.8% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move. Global copper trades at $13,484 per tonne (IMF via FRED, May 2026).
U.S. manufacturing runs at 75.6% of capacity with new factory orders at $657B per month (Federal Reserve and Census, May 2026).
The U.S. has 11,261 computer and electronic products establishments employing about 815,443 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

How do you calculate good production capacity? Multiply output per cycle by available cycles for gross capacity, then multiply by uptime and first-pass yield. At 4 units/cycle over 480 cycles with 90% uptime and 97% yield, good capacity is about 1,676 units.
What is the difference between gross and good capacity? Gross capacity (1,920 units here) is the theoretical output if nothing went wrong. Good capacity (1,676) is what remains after downtime removes 192 units and yield loss removes about 52 more.
What is a capacity gap and how do I use it? The capacity gap is the shortfall between good deliverable capacity and your demand commitment. Compare the good-capacity figure to the units the order requires; if demand exceeds it, you have a gap to close with more cycles, better uptime, or higher yield.
Why does first-pass yield matter more than it looks? Yield loss compounds after downtime, so it acts on already-reduced volume. Even a modest 3% yield loss strips 52 units here, and in medical sensor lines where multiple test stations each shed yield, the stacked effect is larger.
How can I close a capacity gap? Add available cycles (shifts or lines), raise uptime by cutting changeover and unplanned stops, or improve first-pass yield. Yield and uptime gains are often cheaper than adding capital because they recover capacity you already paid for.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.