WonksAnonymous
Measuring the Cost of Unplanned Production Downtime
Three ways to value an hour of unplanned downtime (lost revenue, lost contribution, recovery cost), when each applies, and a worked 90-minute stop.
Analysis
Worked cost models and explainers on production economics, automation investment and supply chains. Each piece shows its formulas, labels its example numbers and says where its conclusion stops applying.
Contract Packing Versus Owning a Packaging Line
When a contract packer costs less than your own line, when it does not, and the non-price factors that decide the close cases, with a worked break-even.
The 90-Day Post-Installation Review: Did Automation Deliver?
A review template that compares an automation business case with 90 days of actual results, recalculates payback, and records lessons for the next investment.
Manual, Semi-Automatic or Fully Automatic Packaging? A Cost Model
A volume-based cost model that puts manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic packaging on one basis, with the crossover volumes worked out and checked.
Small Batches and Frequent Changeovers: The Hidden Cost of Packaging
A model linking batch size, changeover time and run time to good packs and cost per good pack, with a worked shift example and a simple changeover log.
Rollstock Versus Premade Pouches: Comparing the Total Packaging Cost
How to put rollstock and premade pouches on one cost basis: material, waste, labor, equipment and order structure, with two worked scenarios and a break-even formula.
Comparing Packaging Machinery Quotes on a Like-for-Like Basis
A method and comparison table that put packaging machinery quotes on the same scope, so the lowest headline price is not mistaken for the lowest cost.
Automation Payback, ROI and TCO: What Each Metric Tells You
Payback, ROI and TCO answer three different questions. One worked automation case run through all three, with what each metric leaves out.
Cost per Good Pack: A More Useful Measure Than Nameplate Speed
How to define cost per good pack, avoid counting scrap twice, and keep equipment investment as a separate, labeled line, with a one-month worked example.
How Equipment Utilization Changes Automation Payback
Low, medium and high utilization scenarios for one $60,000 automation case, with a sensitivity check and a break-even hours formula.
The True Installed Cost of Packaging Automation
A checklist of the costs beyond a packaging machine's price, a worked installed-cost example, and how to get suppliers to state scope and exclusions.
Why Faster Machines Do Not Always Increase Line Output
How bottlenecks, availability and good-unit output decide what a packaging line delivers, with a worked four-stage example and a pre-purchase measurement list.