SMT Placement Cost Per Board Calculator
Rated CPH on a datasheet is a ceiling, not a quoting basis. This calculator turns placement counts by component class into realized cycle time and a cost per board and per placement, so a quote reflects how fast the machine actually runs the job.
Your numbers
0402 to 1206 passives, small SOT and similar high speed parts.
QFP, QFN, BGA, SOIC and other parts placed on the fine pitch head.
Connectors, shields, large electrolytics and other slow placements.
Machine datasheet rated speed under ideal conditions.
Realized speed as a share of rated, covering feeder changes, vision checks, nozzle changes and micro stops.
Conveyor transfer, clamp and board fiducial reads per board or array.
Machine depreciation, operator share, power, maintenance and floor space.
Feeder loading and verification for the job.
Your results
Single placement machine model. On a multi machine line the slowest machine sets the cycle; run the calculation for the bottleneck machine. Rated CPH follows each vendor's own test method.
Placement cost per board vs placement efficiency
Sweeps Placement efficiency from 30 to 95, holding your other inputs fixed.
Pull placement data from your MES
An optional conversation about feeding measured cycle times and efficiency into your quoting logic.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use it
Count placements, not unique part numbers, and split them into chip parts, fine pitch parts and odd form parts, because each runs at a very different speed. Enter each head's rated CPH from the machine datasheet and a realistic placement efficiency, typically well below 100 percent once you account for feeder changeovers, vision retries, nozzle swaps and small stops. Add handling time per board or array, the machine hourly rate and the job setup time. The result is cost per board, cost per placement and total machine hours for the job.
The formulas
Placement time for each class is placements divided by (rated CPH times efficiency), multiplied by 3,600 to give seconds. Total cycle is the sum across classes plus handling. Run cost is cycle seconds divided by 3,600 times the machine rate. Setup per board is setup minutes divided by 60 times the rate, divided by quantity. Everything is arithmetic on your own inputs, so it is auditable against your MES cycle time data.
- t = placements / (CPH x efficiency) x 3600 sec
- Cycle = sum of class times + handling
- Boards per hour = 3600 / cycle
- Cost = cycle/3600 x rate + setup/qty
Reading the result
Compare cost per placement with what the quote template or your competitors charge. If the figure is far above the chip part average, odd form placements or low efficiency are usually the reason. The sweep shows cost against efficiency: moving from 50 to 70 percent can cut run cost by a quarter, which tells you whether feeder standardization or kitting accuracy is worth the effort. Remember this covers only the placement machine; printing, reflow, AOI and manual work are separate lines.
Common mistakes
Using rated CPH as realized speed overstates throughput and underprices low volume work, where setup and handling dominate. Counting each component reel instead of each placement understates time on high count boards. Another error is applying the machine rate to the whole line when only one machine is the bottleneck. Finally, do not forget multi-up arrays: handling time is per array, so divide by boards per array if you enter per-board handling.
- Count placements, not line items
- Use measured efficiency from MES where you have it
- Handling is per array, not necessarily per board
- Do not mix this with a whole-line rate
Frequently Asked Questions
What placement efficiency should I use?
Start at 55 to 75 percent for mixed high-mix work and compare against your own machine logs. High-volume, stable products with few changeovers can run higher. Measured data from your placement machine beats any rule of thumb.
Why split chip and IC placements?
Rated CPH differs by an order of magnitude between chip shooters and fine pitch or odd form heads. A single average speed hides that, and misprices boards that are heavy on connectors or BGA.
Does this include solder paste printing and reflow?
No. It prices only the placement machine. Add printing, reflow, AOI, X-ray, test, manual assembly and material handling as separate lines in your quote.
How do I handle a multi-up array?
Enter placements for the whole array, boards in the job as the number of arrays, and handling per array. Then divide the resulting cost by boards per array to get cost per board.
If you want measured efficiency and placement counts pulled from your MES and ERP into quotes automatically, we can build that integration, including on-prem deployments.
Related Tools
PCBA NRE and Stencil Amortization Per Unit Calculator
Amortize stencil, programming, fixture and DFM NRE plus line setup and first article time over your order size, then see loaded cost, quoted unit price and how much of the price is one-time cost.
Costing & FinancePCBA Turnkey Quote Worksheet with BOM Rollup and Attrition
Enter BOM lines with quantity per board, unit price, attrition and placement counts, then roll up material, placement and through-hole cost into a per-board cost and quote price.
Quality & InspectionPCBA Array Panel Yield and Cost Per Good Board Calculator
Layout boards in an assembly array, then see utilization, the chance an array is fully good, and cost per good board with and without X-out acceptance.
Costing & FinancePCBA Quantity Price Break Worksheet
Model price tiers from 1 to 5,000 boards by combining material price breaks, scrap, assembly cost, one-time cost and margin into unit price, order value and profit.
More Electronics Manufacturing tools
See all- J-STD-020 MSL Floor Life and Soak Reference
- PCB Panelization Calculator
- Solder Paste Volume Calculator
- SMT Placement Rate and Cycle Time Calculator
- Solder Alloy Melting Point Reference Table
- PCBA First Article Inspection Report Template
- MSD Moisture Sensitive Device Floor Life Log
- SMT Stencil Usage and Cleaning Log
- PCB Trace Current Capacity and Temperature Rise Calculator
Keep exploring
Free tools
- SMT Placement Rate and Cycle Time CalculatorTurn a pick-and-place machine's rated CPH into realistic board cycle time, boards per hour and run hours for an order.
- SMT Line Capacity CalculatorConvert rated placement speed into realistic boards per day and month, accounting for OEE, changeovers, and shift patterns.
- SMT Setup Cost and Minimum Batch Size CalculatorFind setup cost per board for any batch size, and the minimum batch needed to keep setup under a target cost per board.