How do you calculate an injection molding machine hour rate?

Divide the press's annual fixed cost by its billable hours and add its energy cost per hour (average kW x electricity price). With 120,000 of fixed cost over 5,000 billable hours, 40 kW and 0.12 per kWh: 24.00 + 4.80 = 28.80 an hour, the Injection Machine Hour Rate calculator's own example. Quoted at 32, the press recovers 3.20 x 5,000 = 16,000 a year more than it costs.

Why does a big press cost so much more per hour?

Its fixed costs are higher and it usually runs fewer hours, so each hour carries more. In the example the 650 t press has 116,700 of fixed cost over 2,200 billable hours, 53.05 an hour before energy, while the 55 t press has 17,100 over 6,200 hours, 2.76. A rate set by tonnage alone misses the hours.

Does the machine hour rate include the operator?

No. It is the press alone: depreciation, finance, floor space, maintenance, insurance and electricity. Operators, setup technicians, molds and material are costed separately, for example with the Labor Cost and Injection Molding Cost templates, so do not add them to these columns or they are counted twice.

What are break-even hours?

The billable hours a year the quoted rate needs to cover the press: annual fixed cost / (quoted rate - energy cost per hour). For the calculator's example, 120,000 / (32 - 4.80) = 4,412 hours, so 5,000 billed hours leave room. In the example the 500 t press needs 2,812 hours at its 42.00 rate and bills 2,400.

What average power should I use?

The average draw while the press molds, from a power logger or the press's own energy log, not the nameplate rating: heaters and drives draw far less than the connected load most of the time. Include the dryer, chiller or robot only if you also put their fixed costs on that press's row.

Does the workbook use macros?

No. It is a plain .xlsx with ordinary formulas, a table and native charts, so it opens without enabling macros. The Verify sheet re-checks the formulas against fixed test presses and shows Self-check: PASS.

Industry Cost Kits

Injection Molding Machine Hour Rate Excel Template

Machine hour rate = annual fixed cost ÷ billable hours + average kW × electricity price. Give each press a row with its fixed costs, billable hours, power draw and the machine rate you quote, and see which presses are quoted below cost, by how much a year, and how many hours each quoted rate needs.

Free, and a plain .xlsx with no macros to enable. A CSV with live formulas and a printed how-to guide come with it.

Overview

This injection molding machine hour rate template is a working Excel workbook for estimators, plant controllers and owners of molding shops. Each press is one row: its annual fixed costs, the hours a year you actually bill on it, its average power while molding and the press-only rate your quotes use. It ships with ten presses of a fictional custom molder, from 55 t to 650 t, so every tile and chart is filled in when you open it.

A press's fixed costs are the same however much it runs, so they are spread over its billable hours, and its electricity is paid for each hour it molds. In the example the 500 t press costs 94,700 a year and bills 2,400 hours: 39.46 an hour of fixed cost plus 64 kW x 0.13 = 8.32 of energy gives a machine hour rate of 47.78, against the 42.00 it is quoted at. It loses 13,868 a year and would need 2,812 billable hours to break even at that rate.

Across the fleet the presses cost 15.32 an hour on average and recover a net 15,838 a year, but the two largest presses are quoted below cost and lose 33,960 between them; energy is 25% of press cost. The download is a plain .xlsx with no macros. A CSV with live formulas is also included for other tools; the tiles, charts, dropdowns and self-check are in the .xlsx.

What this template includes

Presses table, one row per press: depreciation, finance and interest, floor space, maintenance, and insurance and other add up to its annual fixed cost
Per press: fixed cost per hour, energy cost per hour from average kW and your electricity price, machine hour rate, quote margin, annual over or under recovery, break-even hours and a rate status in words, with a Check column
Dashboard with four tiles (fleet machine hour rate, net recovery, under-recovery, presses quoted below cost), a chart of each press's rate split into fixed and energy cost, and a chart of annual recovery by press
Press-by-press table on the Dashboard with billable hours, rates, recovery, break-even hours and status
Method sheet with every formula, and a Verify sheet that re-checks the formulas against an independent reference and the Injection Machine Hour Rate calculator (Self-check: PASS)
CSV with live formulas for the Presses table; the tiles, charts, dropdowns and self-check are in the .xlsx

Suggested use case

Use it when you set or review press rates, when a big press bought for one program starts running fewer hours, or before you quote a job on a press you rarely use.

How to use it

On Setup, type your currency and your all-in electricity price per kWh.
On Presses, give each press a row: its annual depreciation, finance, floor space, maintenance and insurance, the hours a year you bill on it, its average power while molding and the press-only rate you quote.
Fix anything the Check column names.
Open the Dashboard: each press's machine hour rate against its quoted rate, the annual over or under recovery and the presses quoted below cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you calculate an injection molding machine hour rate?: Divide the press's annual fixed cost by its billable hours and add its energy cost per hour (average kW x electricity price). With 120,000 of fixed cost over 5,000 billable hours, 40 kW and 0.12 per kWh: 24.00 + 4.80 = 28.80 an hour, the Injection Machine Hour Rate calculator's own example. Quoted at 32, the press recovers 3.20 x 5,000 = 16,000 a year more than it costs.
Why does a big press cost so much more per hour?: Its fixed costs are higher and it usually runs fewer hours, so each hour carries more. In the example the 650 t press has 116,700 of fixed cost over 2,200 billable hours, 53.05 an hour before energy, while the 55 t press has 17,100 over 6,200 hours, 2.76. A rate set by tonnage alone misses the hours.
Does the machine hour rate include the operator?: No. It is the press alone: depreciation, finance, floor space, maintenance, insurance and electricity. Operators, setup technicians, molds and material are costed separately, for example with the Labor Cost and Injection Molding Cost templates, so do not add them to these columns or they are counted twice.
What are break-even hours?: The billable hours a year the quoted rate needs to cover the press: annual fixed cost / (quoted rate - energy cost per hour). For the calculator's example, 120,000 / (32 - 4.80) = 4,412 hours, so 5,000 billed hours leave room. In the example the 500 t press needs 2,812 hours at its 42.00 rate and bills 2,400.
What average power should I use?: The average draw while the press molds, from a power logger or the press's own energy log, not the nameplate rating: heaters and drives draw far less than the connected load most of the time. Include the dryer, chiller or robot only if you also put their fixed costs on that press's row.
Does the workbook use macros?: No. It is a plain .xlsx with ordinary formulas, a table and native charts, so it opens without enabling macros. The Verify sheet re-checks the formulas against fixed test presses and shows Self-check: PASS.