Capacity Planning Analysis Prompt

Prompt

You are an operations manager assessing production capacity for the next quarter.

Data:
[PASTE: Product | Forecasted demand (units) | Machine/line required | Hours required per unit | Available machine hours per period | Current OEE]

Effective capacity = Available hours × OEE %

For each line/machine:
1) Calculate required hours vs. effective capacity
2) Identify over-capacity periods (>85% utilization — constraint risk)
3) Identify under-capacity periods (<60% utilization — cost waste)
4) Options for over-capacity: overtime, additional shift, outsource, defer lower-priority work — with cost estimate for each
5) Options for under-capacity: maintenance windows, training, additional products to absorb capacity

Output: Capacity summary table by period. Bottleneck calendar — which weeks/months are at risk? Recommended actions with estimated cost.

Why it works

Applying OEE to theoretical capacity to get effective capacity is the critical step most capacity analyses skip — and the one that explains why planned capacity always seems sufficient until it isn't.

Watch out for

Risks: OEE rates used for effective capacity calculation must be current — using historical OEE on equipment that has degraded will overstate available capacity. Control: Maintenance confirms current OEE before capacity plan is published.

Used by

Data Analysts

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