Manufacturing & packaging calculators
Production and packaging metrics with standard definitions, for planners, buyers and plant teams.
Corrugated & cartons
- Corrugated Box Board Area CalculatorWork out the flat blank size and board area of a regular slotted carton (RSC, FEFCO 0201) from its inside dimensions, glue flap and trim.
- Carton Board Weight CalculatorFind the weight of a corrugated or solid board carton from its blank area, liner and fluting GSM, and the flute take-up factor you use.
- Corrugated Box Volume CalculatorFind the inside volume of a box in litres, cubic metres, cubic feet and cubic inches, with an approximate outside volume from board thickness.
- Die Cutting Waste CalculatorFind the scrap percentage of a die-cut sheet from the sheet size, net blank area and number of ups, plus total waste area and weight for a run.
- Board Reel Usage CalculatorWork out how many running metres of paper reel an order needs from the cut length, outs across the deckle, trim and allowance, plus reel area and weight.
- Flute Take-Up Factor CalculatorTurn a length of corrugated board into the fluting medium it consumes using your take-up factor, or measure the factor from a board sample.
- Box Burst Strength Estimate CalculatorEstimate corrugated board burst strength from each paper’s GSM and burst factor (BF), using the trade summation method, with its limits stated.
Costing & quoting
- Carton Production Cost CalculatorBuild up the cost of a carton from board weight and price, printing, conversion and other costs, add overhead and markup, and get the unit price.
- Batch Manufacturing Cost CalculatorFind the total cost of a production batch from fixed set-up cost and variable cost per unit, the cost per unit made and the cost per good unit after yield.
- Carton Quote Margin CalculatorPrice a packaging order for a target margin: spread one-off plate and die costs over the quantity, then find the unit price, order value and profit.
- Packaging MOQ Break-Even CalculatorFind the order quantity that recovers set-up and tooling costs from the unit price and variable cost, and test whether a proposed MOQ is profitable.
Materials & inventory
- Production Material Requirement CalculatorWork out how many units to start and how much material to order to finish a target number of good units after an expected scrap rate.
- Material Scrap Value CalculatorWork out what your production scrap is worth at the recycler’s price after handling costs, and how much of the original material cost it recovers.
- Material Inventory Days CalculatorFind how many days of raw material you hold from opening and closing inventory and the material consumed in the period, plus inventory turnover.
Printing & paper
- Printing Ink Consumption CalculatorEstimate the ink a print job uses from printed area, coverage, ink film weight per m² and quantity, with a waste allowance and optional ink cost.
- Paper GSM CalculatorConvert GSM into sheet weight, ream weight and total weight for any sheet size, plus the US basis weight in pounds for bond, text, cover or index paper.
Production performance
- Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) CalculatorCalculate overall equipment effectiveness from planned time, downtime, ideal cycle time, total count and good count, with each OEE factor shown.
- Machine Utilization CalculatorFind machine utilisation as run hours divided by available hours, for one machine or a group, with idle hours for the period.
- Production Cycle Time CalculatorFind average cycle time per unit from operating time and units completed, the hourly output rate, and whether it keeps up with your takt time.
- Takt Time CalculatorWork out takt time from shift length, breaks, shifts per day and daily customer demand, the pace your line must meet to match demand.
- Production Yield CalculatorCalculate final yield, first-pass yield and scrap rate from units started, units good first time and units recovered by rework.
Shipping & palletising
- Packaging Dimensional Weight CalculatorWork out a parcel’s dimensional (volumetric) weight with your carrier’s divisor and compare it with the actual weight to find the chargeable weight.
- Pallet Fit CalculatorFind how many cartons fit on a pallet without overhang, testing straight, rotated and two-block mixed layer patterns, and how many layers fit the height.
- Pallet Height CalculatorWork out the total height of a loaded pallet from the layers, carton height, pallet height and sheets, and how many layers fit under a height limit.
- Case Pack Optimization CalculatorFind how many rectangular items fit in a case, testing every allowed orientation and mixed layer patterns, compared with the simple volume upper bound.