Calculate your leather savings
70% today → 73.0% with nesting. This is your assumption; the trial measures it on your own files.
Engine time: how the plan is chosen
A batch of about 10 hides nests well in a 10-minute job; a single hide waiting on the table needs 10 to 30 seconds. Your monthly volume divided by this gives the jobs a month, and the calculator picks the cheapest plan whose engine minutes and job length cover them.
Cutting fabric as well? Try the fabric savings calculator for apparel.
How the calculation works
Same parts, fewer hides
An order needs the same area of leather however it is nested. A better yield means opening fewer hides for it, so the saving is your monthly hide spend times (1 − yield today ÷ yield after).
An example
A furniture cutting room uses 300 hides a month at €180 each (about €4 per ft²) with a yield of 70%. At 73%, the same parts fit on 288 hides: €2,219 of leather a month that it no longer buys, against €290 for Leather Pro.
The plan for your volume
Engine time grows with your hides. In batches of 10, each nested in a 10-minute job, 300 hides a month are 30 jobs and 300 engine minutes. Leather Pro includes 900, enough for about 900 hides a month; beyond that the calculator moves you to a larger plan.
The break-even point
The yield gain at which the leather saved equals the plan price: +0.38 points in the example. Above it, every point of yield is worth €761 a month.
How to calculate leather yield
Yield is the area of the parts you cut divided by the area of the hides you opened for them. Your scanner reports each hide's area and your CAD each part's area: multiply the parts by the quantities in the order and divide by the area of the hides used.
Measure over several orders and batches, not one hide. A batch with large defects gives a lower yield whatever the nesting, so compare like with like.
Count hide area the same way before and after, whole hide as scanned or usable leather inside the outline. The calculator only needs the two figures to be comparable.
Questions about the leather yield calculator
How do I calculate leather yield?
Divide the area of the parts you cut by the area of the hides you used for them. Your hide scanner reports the area of each hide and your CAD the area of each part, so an order's yield is its parts' area times the quantities, over the area of the hides opened for it. Measure it over a few orders rather than one hide.
I buy leather per square foot. What do I enter as the price per hide?
Multiply your price per square foot (or square metre) by the average area of your hides. A 45 ft² hide at €4 per ft² is €180 per hide.
What yield gain should I expect from leather nesting software?
It depends on where you start. Nesting by eye around defects and grade zones leaves more to gain than moving from one nesting program to another. We do not quote a figure we have not measured on your parts: nest an order you have already cut during the free trial and compare the hides it needs.
Which costs does the calculator leave out?
It counts leather only. Less cutting time, fewer hides to handle and store, and no licence or PC to buy for nesting come on top, and so do your own setup and training time. It also assumes you buy fewer hides when the yield goes up, rather than cutting more parts from the same stock.
How is the plan chosen?
From the engine time your hides need: your hides a month divided by the hides per nesting job, times the minutes per job. The calculator picks the cheapest leather plan whose monthly engine minutes and longest job cover it. Extra engine minutes are €0.50 each, with up to 30% off; for more than the largest plan includes, contact us.
Is the calculator free?
Yes. It runs in your browser, needs no account and sends nothing anywhere. To measure your own yield gain, the nesting itself needs a plan, which starts with a free trial.