SFA

I own a granite shop and im trying to create a formula how many sq.ft should one man be able to fabricate in an 8 hour day.

Each formula necessarily will be unique due to equipment for fabricating and material handling, skill of craftsmen and desired quality of finished product. This is hardly a science at the small shop level. The best one could hope for is to have like equipped, staffed and minded shops share what they have.

This and much ore are discussed in the member area of the this website.
I remember seeing some earlier posts from you, so obviously you see the value in the SFA. Thanks for your interest.
Joining is the best money you can spend, imo.

What Dan said

Lets say I have 5 guys in the shop all 5 guys have at least 10 years experiance the slabs are being cut with a rail saw and everything else is done by hand.meaning varitable speed grinders and cup wheels down to the wet and dry pads they are using.with that info basicly how much sq.ft should each man be able to fab.oh yea and quality is definently key....

I would say that in that scenario I would expect 5 guys to be able to produce three kitchens a day maybe??

I would expect 5 guys with 10 years of experience to be able to bust out 80 - 100 square feet a day if they really pushed it. A yearly average of 50 - 70 per day if you do a lot of full bullnose edges with radiuses, bump outs and stuff like that.

I will also say that 5 guys with that much experience is expensive. May want to start to look as some used line polishers or a manual gantry saw to speed things up.

its a loaded question meaning there are too many variables, whats the edge details, whats the material, what r the shapes, is any of it radius work, is it laminations, drop in sinks or undermount, what are you moving the material with, do you need 2 guys to move a pc or do you have an overhead crane, do you take breaks and lunches, how many hours a day are they working.
Sorry, but just because they have 10 years experience doesn't mean they know what they are doing. 10 years in my shop is a LOT different than being in someone elses shop.
To try and put a number on that would be impossible without all the information. If the guys are really working all day than you already know what they can produce.

How much are you getting now?
If you ask how many liniar ft should a fastback be able to produce per hour the answer is easy but you ask about humans, they all differ in speed and capabillity regardless of how much experience they have. You already know how much they produce with the way you manage them and if you are looking to get them to produce more you must direct your atention to the problem or problems you have, it could be material flow through the shop, it could be management, it could be a lot of different things so you need to identify and fix.

Angel wrote:To try and put a number on that would be impossible without all the information. .

I love production questions and discussions. I would love to give a month of my jobs to a shop doing "2 kitchens a day" and see how that pans out. Like Angel kinda said, this is a question that is not worth asking. If your guys are busy and working full shifts, they are doing what they can with the jobs they have, if they are slacking, you should have an idea about it from "feel" not numbers. People and jobs are different, and so are outcomes of the 2. Even machine production although somewhat more realistic is still with a grain of salt from shop to shop.

I would think the measurement would be linear ft of polished edge, not sq ft of counter tops. At least for the guys doing the edges. Think about a 4" backsplash compared to a 25" top. Then consider a 12" bartop edged both sides. If I were measured by sq ft and my job or bonuses were based on it, I would try to dump splashes and bartops on another worker.

if you want to measure productivity, measure what you have then try to improve. I wouldn't worry to much about other shops at this point. If you have 5 people (and you measure their results), your goal would be getting 5th place in par with 4th, 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd, etc.

That question can not be answered without knowing everything the others said above. Also, finished linear feet is the real thing you need to look at like one of the guys said as well.