Free Tool · Interactive

Constraint Mix Calculator

When a resource runs out, the most profitable product is not the one that earns the most per unit. It is the one that earns the most per unit of the thing you have least of. Enter your constraint and your products, and the ranking updates as you type. Nothing is sent anywhere, the maths runs in your browser.

The Binding Constraint
Machine-hours, labour hours, warehouse slots, cash, a bottleneck station. If nothing genuinely runs out, this framework does not apply and you should simply sell more of everything profitable.
Your Products
Product Price Variable cost Machine-hours per unit Max demand
Leave a row blank to ignore it. Leave max demand blank if you could sell as many as you can make. Variable cost only, since fixed cost does not change with the mix.
Reset to example numbers
Contribution from the best mix
$60,000

Ranked by contribution per unit of the constraint
# Product Contribution per unit Machine-hours per unit Contribution per machine-hour Units to make Hours used Contribution

If you ranked by contribution per unit instead
That mix would earn
$45,000

What the constraint is worth
One more machine-hour is worth
$20.00

The thinking behind this tool: Why More Volume Doesn't Always Mean More Profit →
It works through a factory where the premium line earns $45 a unit and the standard line earns $30, and the standard line is the better business.

This assumes one dominant constraint. When several bind at once the simple ranking can mislead, and the mix becomes a genuine optimisation problem. The free Pricing Optimization model solves that case with Solver, and the judgement about which constraint is really binding usually needs a conversation. Start a conversation →