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Dry product volume calculator

October 2, 2008 on 3:54 pm | In Excel |

I recently needed this for work.  We needed a quicker way to get a fairly accurate measure of how much dry product we have for inventory.

The way this spreadsheet works:
Edit the products sheet with the product you are storing. Density is the product weight per cubic foot. US Measurements only at this time.

Edit the Bins sheet with the size of the storage areas. Default sheet is 10 flat bins and 3 cone bottom upright bins.

So you go to your bins, give them each a name or number and then start measuring.

The measuring procedure: We have 1ft and 6in line painted inside our bins and use a rake to level across the bin if it is uneven across the width.
Measure how high the pile goes up the back wall this number goes in as ft’ in” like 3′ 8″
next look at the pile and determine where the next change of the slope of the pile is, take a measurement of distance from the back of the bin and from the floor. Do this for any place the pile shape changes.

Enter these in the spreadsheet  Several of the graphs have sample data.

The sheet calculates the area of the cross section you measured. multiplied by the width of the bin. multiplied by the density of the the product you have chosen. It gets the bin and product information from the pink bin dropdown and yellow product downdown boxes.

at the bottom there are 3 cone bottom bins. where you measure the depth of the product from the bottom of the bin to the top of the product - try to flatten or estimate the level of flattening the top.

to the right you choose a product in each column then it will add all the bins and fill in the inventory totals report at the bottom.

Download here

Report errors or problem to tim@litwiller.net.  License is creative commons. Please share any improvements you make on this spreadsheet.