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Cells and shifts planner

How many cells does your week need

Set the sliders to your own shop: how many parts a week, how long each one takes, how many shifts you run. The answer changes as you go. Every number is yours. Nothing you enter is saved or sent, and there is no price anywhere on this page.

Your numbers

2,400

Every part the cell would handle in a normal week. One part is one load and one unload.

75 s

Time for one part, from pick up to set down. If you only know the time it takes by hand, start there. The real robot time is measured on your own parts later.

Shifts a day
Shifts a day2

Each shift counts as 8 hours the cell is scheduled to run.

Days a week
Days a week5

The days a week those shifts run.

85 percent

The share of scheduled time the cell is actually making parts. Breaks, waiting on material and faults come out of it. We plan with 85 percent until your own records say otherwise.

6

Each time the cell switches to a different part: a new program, new fingers on the gripper, or new tooling.

20 min

How long one switch takes, from the last good part of one job to the first good part of the next.

The answer

1cell

2,400 parts a week at 75 seconds each, plus 6 changeovers, needs about 61 robot hours a week. On 2 shifts, 5 days a week, that is 1 cell, busy about 76 percent of the time, with about 19 hours a week to spare.

That is close to full. A slow week or a long changeover would push it over, so it is worth a look at one more shift or one more day.

  • Cell 176%

Where the week goes

  • Making parts 50 h
  • Changeovers 2 h
  • Lost to uptime 9 h
  • Spare 19 h
61 hRobot hours a week your parts need
80 hHours one cell is scheduled to run
19 hSpare hours a week across the cells
768More parts a week before you need cell 2

Same week, different shifts

The same parts and changeovers, on 1, 2 or 3 shifts.

  • 2cells on 1 shift
  • 1cell on 2 shifts
  • 1cell on 3 shifts
Show the math
  1. Making parts, in hours a week: parts a week × seconds a part ÷ 3,600.
  2. Changeovers, in hours a week: changeovers × minutes each ÷ 60.
  3. Robot hours needed: (making parts + changeovers) ÷ uptime. Uptime is the share of scheduled time the cell really runs, so dividing by it adds the hours lost to breaks, waits and faults.
  4. Hours one cell is scheduled to run: shifts × 8 hours × days a week.
  5. Cells: robot hours needed ÷ hours one cell runs, rounded up to a whole cell. How full each cell is: hours needed shared evenly across the cells.
  6. More parts before the next cell: the parts a week the same cells could make at the same uptime and changeovers, less the parts you entered.
What this sketch leaves out

A plan starts here your parts finish it

  • Real cycle timesSeconds a part depends on the part, the gripper and the machine it feeds. Those get measured on your own parts, not guessed here.
  • Your part mixA week of one part and a week of forty different parts plan very differently. The changeover sliders are a first pass at that.
  • What fits on one cellSize, weight and reach decide which parts can share a cell. This planner assumes every part can run on any cell.
The next step is yours

Bring these numbers to a Fit Check

The Fit Check asks a few questions about your parts and your floor and tells you where automation is likely to fit. If you want to talk it through with a person instead, we are glad to.

Take the Fit Check → Talk to us