Injection Molding Machine Hourly Rate Calculator
The machine rate is what you charge a job for each hour of press time, and a wrong one quietly loses money on every quote. This calculator builds the rate from its parts and converts it to cost per shot and cost per part.
Your numbers
Press, auxiliaries, installation.
Hours the press actually runs sold work, not calendar hours.
Charged on the average investment, taken as half of the installed cost.
Average over the cycle including heaters, hydraulics or servo drive, and chiller share.
Your results
A simplified build-up for quoting. Your cost accounting policy may allocate overhead, depreciation and energy differently.
Machine hourly rate vs productive hours per year
Sweeps Productive hours per year from 2000 to 8400, holding your other inputs fixed.
Check machine rates in your ERP
Optional: we can review work center rate setups in your ERP and compare them with a first-principles build-up.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use it
Enter the installed cost, depreciation life and the hours the press actually produces sold work in a year. Add maintenance as a percentage of cost, average power draw and tariff, labor rate and the number of operators per press, and a floor and overhead allowance. Finally add cycle time and cavities to see conversion cost per shot and per part. The sweep shows how the rate rises as utilization falls.
The build-up
Fixed costs per hour are depreciation (cost divided by life and hours), a capital charge on the average investment, and maintenance. Variable costs are energy (kW times tariff), labor (rate times operators) and overhead. Because fixed items are divided by productive hours, a press that runs 3,000 hours instead of 6,000 carries twice the depreciation and capital cost per hour, which is the heart of pricing idle capacity.
- Use productive sold hours, not 8,760 calendar hours
- Servo and electric presses draw much less energy than older hydraulic ones
- Auxiliaries such as dryers and chillers can be included in the kW figure
Worked example
A $120,000 press over 10 years and 6,000 hours has depreciation of $2.00 per hour. Capital charge adds $0.80, maintenance $0.80, energy $3.00, labor $12.00 and overhead $7.00, for a rate of about $25.60. A 30 second cycle makes the cost per shot about $0.21 and a 4 cavity mold about $0.053 per part before resin and tooling.
Common mistakes
Dividing by calendar hours, which understates the rate, leaving out chillers and dryers, assuming one operator can run unlimited presses, and using the same rate for a 50 ton and a 500 ton press. Rates should be set per machine size band and reviewed when utilization changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use one rate for all presses?
Usually no. Cost, power draw and labor needs differ widely between a small electric press and a large hydraulic press. Set rates per size band or per machine group so quotes reflect real cost.
How do I treat tooling in the rate?
Keep tooling separate. Amortize it over expected parts per mold and add it as its own line in the part cost, so the machine rate stays a pure press-hour cost.
What utilization should I assume?
Use the productive hours you realistically sell, based on history. Many plants land between 4,000 and 7,000 hours. Using an optimistic figure makes quotes too low.
Does this include resin and scrap?
No. It is the conversion cost only. Add resin, regrind loss, scrap allowance, packaging and margin on top to reach the part price.
If your ERP holds machine cost centers and routings, Netray can help check whether the rates posted there match the real build-up, and where quotes are using stale ones.
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