Weighing, Dosing & Loss-in-Weight Feeding worked example

Feeder Capacity at 65% feeder mechanical uptime: a worked example

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop feeder mechanical uptime to 65%, then walk the calculation through step by step. Feeder Capacity estimates how many good, in-spec doses a loss-in-weight feeder can deliver over a shift by taking gross cycle capacity and discounting it for mechanical uptime and dose yield.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Doses delivered per feed cycle: 4 units / cycle (held at the documented default)
  • Feed cycles available per shift: 480 cycles (held at the documented default)
  • Feeder mechanical uptime: 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • In-spec dose yield: 97 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross feeder 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 feeder mechanical 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 feeder mechanical uptime, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It treats uptime and yield as independent multipliers; in reality a feeder starving from poor refill can hurt both at once, so the two losses may not add cleanly.

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 Feeder Capacity calculator, set feeder mechanical uptime to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.