Examples
Examples
Try the starting example
- Returns
- 120
- Handling minutes per return by stage
- 2,3
- Workers assigned by stage
- 1,2
- Shift hours
- 4
- Worker-hours by stage
- 4, 6
- Nominal bottleneck returns per hour
- 30
- Workload lower bound (hours)
- 4
- Bottleneck stage number
- 1
- Steady-state shift capacity
- 120
Try another scenario
- Returns
- 60
- Handling minutes per return by stage
- 2,4
- Workers assigned by stage
- 2,1
- Shift hours
- 8
- Worker-hours by stage
- 2, 4
- Nominal bottleneck returns per hour
- 15
- Workload lower bound (hours)
- 4
- Bottleneck stage number
- 2
- Steady-state shift capacity
- 120
Calculation method
Calculation method
Worker-hours by stage
Returns × minutes per return / 60, for each stage.
Nominal bottleneck returns per hour
Minimum of 60 × stage workers / handling minutes across stages.
Workload lower bound (hours)
Returns / bottleneck hourly capacity.
Bottleneck stage number
One-based position of the first stage with the lowest hourly capacity.
Steady-state shift capacity
Floor(bottleneck hourly rate × shift hours), before startup and end-of-shift effects.
Symbols and units
- a
- Returns
- b
- Handling minutes per return by stage
- c
- Workers assigned by stage
- d
- Shift hours
Use the units shown. A list keeps the order in which you enter its values. The symbol ^ means “raised to the power of”.
Assumptions & limits
Assumptions & limits
- Steady-state capacity and workload lower bound only. Stage startup, queues and indivisible items increase actual completion time. Shift hours are a planning input; this model does not schedule staff.
Are these inputs private?
These calculations run in your browser. A shared link contains the values you choose to share. Only questions submitted to the separate AI finder are sent to OpenAI.
Further reading
OpenStax: ratios, percentages and rectangular geometry ↗
Background reading; this does not imply endorsement or independent review of SumFizz.