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Poole College of Management 
Supply Chain Resource Cooperative

Capacity Utilization

January 19, 2011

A measure (usually expressed as a percentage) of how intensively a resource is being used to produce a good or service. Utilization compares actual time used to available time. Traditionally, utilization is the ratio of direct time charged (run time plus setup time) to the clock time available. Utilization is a percentage between 0% and 100% that is equal to 100% minus the percentage of time lost due to machine, tool, worker, etc., unavailability.