What it costs to learn
with the line running.
Add up what you pay today to train each operator on the equipment that produces: the weeks on the machine, the experienced operator who shadows them, the ramp to full pace and the risk of a major stoppage.
The full result shows up front, with no sign-up. The example values come from a working session with a steel mill: replace them with your plant's.
The calculator adds four costs using your values. Each one comes from a formula you can review here.
Annual cost = N × S × (Co + Ci + Ce) + N × A × Ca + N × R × (1 − P) / 2 × V + Cd × D × p
The curve assumes productivity rises in a straight line from the starting level to full pace: if it starts at 50% and takes four weeks, it loses 25% of output on average over those weeks. The major stoppage counts as an annual expected value, probability times cost, the approach a finance team can defend. Shadowing counts only the experienced operator's cost; the new operator's reduced output goes in the curve, so it is not counted twice.
The calculation is the one in Fyware's steel mill ROI calculator, in its training, shadowing, learning curve and major incident sections, without the investment and return part.
So plants practice little and late. Fyware builds the simulator of your equipment, with your controls and your procedure, so each operator can repeat the critical maneuver as many times as needed while the line keeps producing. At Gerdau Corsa it started with one crane simulator and today there are eleven modules; the plant reports zero production stops for training.
To take the calculation to the budget meeting with your numbers and compare it with a simulator using your own assumptions.
The four costs and the total, with the example values in yellow cells you replace with your plant's.
The weeks, starting productivity and probability you expect with prior practice. The sheet starts equal to today, so the difference starts at zero.
No macros: every cell shows its formula so finance can review it.
With the notice that it is an estimate.
It depends on four costs this calculator adds: the weeks of practice on the equipment (the operator, the trainer and the tied-up equipment), the shadowing by an experienced operator, the ramp to full pace and, as an expected value, the risk of a major stoppage. With the example values from a steel mill, the cost per new operator is over $200,000, and most of it is the equipment tied up for practice; with your plant's data it can be very different.
It is the weeks when a new operator already works alone but produces less than an experienced one. If they start at 50% and reach full pace in four weeks, rising in a straight line, they lose 25% of their output on average over that time. The cost is that percentage times the weekly output value of the position, times the weeks and the number of operators.
Because while an experienced operator shadows the new one, they stop doing their own job. The calculator counts their wages plus the output they give up; the new operator's reduced output goes in the learning curve, so it is not counted twice.
More questions
Tell us what you want to solve in your plant. Fyware designs extended reality around the equipment and constraints of your operation, and builds it to grow from a pilot to the whole site.
Tom Klukowski, Fyware Partner · Valcre Marketing We reply in under 24 business hours, with scope, timeline and investment range.In the meeting you see the simulator running and what it would take to bring it to your plant, with scenarios adapted to your layout. And if you need to sell it internally, this page is your presentation: share it with your team.
