Choosing Axis Scales for Capacity Utilisation Panels
Industrial IR presentations often include a capacity utilisation panel — the percentage of installed production capacity actually used each quarter. The chart seems straightforward until someone asks why the y-axis starts at 60% instead of zero.
Zero baseline vs. focused range
Financial charting convention generally requires revenue and profit axes to start at zero. Capacity utilisation is different: the meaningful range for most manufacturers sits between 65% and 95%. Starting at zero compresses the variation that analysts actually question.
We use a focused range when the client's utilisation has not dropped below 50% in five years and the narrative concerns quarter-over-quarter shifts of two to five percentage points. The axis annotation states the range explicitly: "Axis scaled 60–100%."
When absolute units matter more
If the company added significant capacity during the period — a new plant line, an acquisition — percentage utilisation can mislead. A flat 82% utilisation rate masks a 30% increase in absolute output. In these cases we pair the percentage panel with an indexed output volume chart normalised to the pre-expansion quarter.
Break annotations for shutdowns
Planned maintenance shutdowns create single-quarter dips that analysts ask about every time. Rather than smoothing the series, we add a visible break marker with the shutdown duration in days and the affected product line. This costs one annotation line but saves ten minutes of Q&A explanation.
Preparation checklist
Before we draw a capacity panel, we ask for: installed capacity by line (with expansion dates), actual output by line, maintenance shutdown schedule, and whether the IR lead wants to emphasise efficiency or absolute growth. The axis choice follows from that conversation.
View our quarterly earnings commission for scope details.