Thus, depending upon management’s intentions regarding running the bottleneck operation, Idle capacity may be either nonexistent or quite large. Therefore, 45% of fixed cost, being the cost of idle facility, should be excluded from the calculation of overhead recovery rate. Thus the appropriate recovery rate is to be found by dividing the 55% of fixed cost plus 100% variable manufacturing overhead by the budgeted direct labour cost. The idle capacity variance indicates the amount of overhead that is either under – or over absorbed because actual hours are either less or more than the hours on which the overhead rate was based.

StackArmor OpsAlert enables accountability through easy management metrics that help drive team behavior. Key features that are part of stackArmor OpsAlert are described below. The pandemic and the resulting changes in employee work routines and locations have created a potential cost-allowability issue that many government contractors have not previously encountered – potential idle facilities and/or idle capacity.

Idle Facilities and Idle Capacity

(iii) If it is due to seasonal fluctuations, then the idle capacity cost should be charged in cost of production by inflating overhead rate. A multiple-shift basis may be used in the calculation instead of a one-shift basis if it can be shown that this amount of usage could normally be expected for the type of facility involved. Because of shortages of labour and materials, a department in a factory is working at 55 per cent of its normal capacity. In its cost records, it charges manufacturing overhead to work-in-progress as a percentage of direct labour. For the current year, budgeted direct labour cost is Rs.2,50,000 and budgeted manufacturing overhead is Rs.2,25,000 (Fixed Rs.1,00,000 and variable Rs.1,25,000).

The idle capacity variance is the amount by which actual production usage declines below the normal or expected production level, multiplied by the overhead application rate. For example, a machine has a normal, long-term usage level of 400 hours per month (essentially two shifts of work per business day). Based on this information, the idle capacity variance is the 80-hour difference between the normal and actual usage, multiplied by the $30 overhead rate, which is $2,400.

Absorbed Cost vs. Full Cost

It is
applicable to questions related to choosing the basis for overhead rates, how to
treat capacity costs and pricing decisions. Idle capacity is the remaining amount of capacity left in a company after productive capacity and protective capacity have been eliminated from consideration. Protective capacity is, to some degree, a matter of opinion, for it can involve a substantial proportion of total capacity if a company intends to retain sufficient capacity to cover extremely large (and rare) production spikes. Conversely, if management is content to allow some occasional downtime at its bottleneck operation, then it may define protective capacity as a much smaller number.

If you have zero idle time this may indicate you suffered Lost Sales due to insufficient Factory Capacity. You should view the Lost Sales figures on the Product Summary or Market Summary reports. Capacity Cost is the cost (mostly fixed), which remain unabsorbed due to under-utilization of capacity. This is a loss to the organisation and such cost should be kept as minimum as possible.

Solution to Idle Production Capacity

(1) Facilities means land and buildings or any portion thereof, equipment individually or collectively, or any other tangible capital asset, wherever located, and whether owned or leased by the non-Federal entity.

Idle capacity, as defined, relates to the unused capacity of a partially used facility (i.e., the relative relationship of 100% utilization vs. actual utilization during the accounting period). Idle capacity costs are generally considered an allowable cost of doing business provided the capacity is necessary or was initially reasonable and is not subject to reduction or elimination through subletting, rental, or sale. Retained for an extended period of time will have a detrimental impact on your competitive position and resulting profitability. Under the exception stated in this subsection, costs of idle facilities are allowable for a reasonable period of time, ordinarily not to exceed one year, depending on the initiative taken to use, lease, or dispose of such facilities. The factory bears costs for the idle capacity as it still has to maintain its equipment, pay rent for its facility, and potentially pay workers, among other fixed costs.

Idle Capacity

Here the cost of the most serviceable department is considered at first for apportionment among the production departments and other service departments. In this method service department costs are apportioned directly to the production departments only, inter-departmental services are ignored here. For instance, if there’s a sudden surge in demand, the factory can increase its production up to 1,000 bicycles per day without needing to invest in additional machinery or equipment. This means the factory has an idle capacity of 300 bicycles per day (1,000 maximum capacity – 700 actual production). Essentially, the factory is not utilizing its resources to their full potential, resulting in a portion of their manufacturing capacity sitting idle.

As the result, they will create bottlenecks and idle time for the next production stages. The capacity usage ratio and the capacity utilisation ratio in respect of a machine for a particular month is 90 and 80 per cent respectively. Under-absorption represents the cost of idle capacity inclusive of the unavoidable interruptions. The action to be taken by the management to obviate the idle capacity depends on the causes leading to it. Some causes such as lack of materials, tools or equipment’s, breakdown of machines in the absence of preventive maintenance etc. can be controlled by the suitable management action.

If the projected monetary gain from the sale of idle equipment is minimal, then it usually makes sense to retain the assets, thereby essentially expanding the protective capacity of the business. This is usually the case, since the older and least efficient machines that are typically sold off have reduced market value. If you have idle capacity, you should treat it as a period cost and charge it to expense in the period incurred, rather than allocating its cost to inventory. Doing so flushes out the expense, rather than incorrectly retaining it within the business as an asset. Idle Production Capacity may be different depending on the nature of manufacturing and the management intention. If the management allows some downturn during the operation, there will be less protective capacity require.

• This is a loss to the organisation and such cost should be kept as minimum as possible.
• In order to solve this, management must require staff to work overtime or increase extra shifts.
• The idle capacity variance is the amount by which actual production usage declines below the normal or expected production level, multiplied by the overhead application rate.
• This would leave $160,000 in the ending inventory and show a loss of $30,000.
• We recommend
  manufacturing firms in the United States increase outsourcing major parts and
  components to increase output-rates flexibility.

A dispute has arisen as to the percentage of direct labour which should be charged to work-in-progress. One officer claims that it should be 90 per cent, another claims that it should be much less than this. If these measures do not produce any result and surplus capacity appears to be a permanent feature, then it should be disposed of. On average organizations are wasting between 40-60% of their cloud capacity due to the inability to easily track idle cloud capacity that is paid paid for but not adequately used. StackArmor OpsAlert provides a powerful and simple 12-card dashboard that includes the Cloud Idle Score to detect and reduce wastage. Following is the flexible budget of a department of a manufacturing company.

Specific Cost Guidance by Category

It reflects the loss to be shown against the sales department due to its inability to sell or to the production department because of excessive or surplus capacity. If this bottleneck is likely to be a permanent feature, the overhead rate should be based on normal capacity related to the capacity of the bottleneck department. If excess capacity cannot be balanced, then it is better to dispose of the machinery and equipment which causes the excess capacity.

• Facilities are defined as a plant (think office) or any portion thereof, equipment or tangible capital assets, wherever located, and whether owned or leased (think copy machines, desktop computers, furniture, etc.).
• Moreover, some companies may decide to purchase the WIP from the others manufacturing.
• (c) The costs of idle capacity are normal costs of doing business and are a factor in the normal fluctuations of usage or indirect cost rates from period to period.
• Conversely, if management is content to allow some occasional downtime at its bottleneck operation, then it may define protective capacity as a much smaller number.
• If excess capacity cannot be balanced, then it is better to dispose of the machinery and equipment which causes the excess capacity.