Optimize your engineering design process by calculating the Design Production Rate and Average Fee per Hour.
1. Design Production Rate (PRDesign) = Total Deliverables (Dmech) / Total Labor Hours (MHEng)
This measures technical efficiency: the output volume achieved per unit of labor time.
2. Average Fee per Hour (AFH) = Total Revenue (RDesign) / Total Labor Hours (MHEng)
This measures financial efficiency: the revenue generated per deployed engineering hour.
Scenario: A mechanical team completes 50 P&IDs in 200 hours, billing $30,000 for the phase.
In the complex world of MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) design, efficiency is often difficult to quantify. Unlike a manufacturing line where widgets are counted, engineering involves abstract analysis, coordination, and creativity. However, for a firm to be profitable, these activities must be measured. The Mechanical Engineering Productivity Calculator is designed specifically for engineering managers and project leads to assess the performance of their design teams. It translates labor inputs and financial data into two critical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): the Design Production Rate and the Average Fee per Hour.
The first metric, Design Production Rate (PRDesign), focuses on operational throughput. It answers the question: "How fast are we converting labor into tangible documentation?" When this rate is low, it frequently indicates excessive time consumed by non-value-added activities. These might include endless internal coordination meetings, manual conflict resolution, or waiting for missing architectural data. As noted in industry studies on Mechanical Engineering workflows, the failure to utilize integrated technologies—such as BIM—often results in engineers spending hours manually resolving spatial conflicts rather than designing systems.
The second metric, Average Fee per Hour (AFH), connects operational effort to financial health. It is not enough to be fast; the work must also be valuable. The Mechanical Engineering Productivity Calculator helps you verify that the revenue generated per hour of work exceeds the "burdened cost" (salary + overhead) of the staff performing it. This is a fundamental concept in Project Management. If the AFH is lower than your cost, the project is bleeding money, regardless of how many drawings are produced. By monitoring these two metrics simultaneously using the Mechanical Engineering Productivity Calculator, managers can identify if a project is suffering from scope creep (high deliverables, low fee) or process inefficiency (low deliverables, high hours).
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A deliverable is any quantifiable unit of finished work. This usually refers to drawings (sheets), finalized specifications, P&IDs, or completed calculation reports. For accuracy, try to use a consistent unit (e.g., "Sheet Count") across all projects when using this calculator.
It measures technical efficiency. If your production rate drops significantly on a specific project, it highlights a workflow issue—such as poor software tools, lack of training, or excessive design changes—that needs to be addressed.
Initially, BIM might lower the "Sheet Production Rate" because modeling takes time. However, it typically increases the "Average Fee per Hour" by reducing errors and rework later in the project. When using BIM, consider using "Models Completed" or "Zones Finished" as your deliverable unit instead of just sheets.
A "good" AFH depends on your firm's overhead. Generally, the AFH should be 2.5x to 3.0x the raw hourly wage of the engineer to cover overhead and profit. If the calculator shows a value lower than this multiplier, the project may be losing money.