A percentage of freed capacity can't be spent on anything. This guided tool converts it into real hours, subtracts the buffer you want to keep, then walks you through what to do with what's left — redeploy it, grow into it, or both — and compares every option side by side before you commit.
Every step builds on the one before it. Nothing is asked for twice, and every figure stays visible once you've entered it.
Productive, nonproductive and available — as percentages, before and after the improvement.
Headcount, hours per person and your hourly rate convert the available % into real hours.
Decide the minimum available capacity you want to keep. What's left is deployable.
Redeploy people, grow volume, or both — every path draws from the same pool.
There's no option where the hours sit unused and the improvement still shows up on the P&L. Whichever you choose, the tool shows what the other two would have been worth.
Move people out of this value stream, in whole-person increments. Its labour cost falls; revenue stays where it is. No redundancies required — this is about transfers, absorbing attrition, and replacing overtime and agency labour.
Spend the deployable hours making more units. The people are already paid for, so only materials rise — which is why growth usually returns considerably more than redeployment from the same freed capacity.
Spend some hours on growth and move the rest out. What most companies actually do — the tool tracks hours committed against hours available so neither path overcommits the pool.
The results screen is a box score — capacity, then financials, then the bottom line — with all four outcomes visible at once from the same inputs.
| Decide nothing | Redeploy | Grow | Both | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial — monthly | ||||
| Revenue | $1,292,640 | $1,292,640 | $2,218,140 | $2,218,140 |
| Value stream profit | $634,064 | $651,152 | $1,274,564 | $1,291,652 |
| Annual profit impact | $0 | $205,056 | $7,686,000 | $7,891,056 |
Figures shown are the built-in worked example. Every input is editable, and the model stays visible after you finish the guided steps.
Most capacity calculators ask for numbers without explaining what they mean. This one doesn't.
Capacity is entered and reasoned about in hours throughout, converted to dollars only at the end — so a freed percentage never gets treated as a dollar percentage by mistake.
Conversion cost, contribution margin, the three capacity categories — each has a short definition and a worked example right where it's asked for. Nothing is assumed.
Finish the guided steps and every figure stays in view and stays editable. Change one number and the box score updates immediately — no restarting the wizard.
Built from Practical Lean Accounting (Maskell & Baggaley, 2nd ed.), Chapter 4 — the standard reference for value stream costing and capacity analysis. Developed with input from the BMA Lean Accounting Certification, taught by Nick Katko.
