DuPont Schedule: Calendar Calculator & Complete Guide
Set the first night of your 4-night block below and get your exact day/night/off calendar for the next 12 months — including when your next 7-day break starts.
How the DuPont schedule works
Born at DuPont's chemical plants in the 1950s and still everywhere in manufacturing, energy, and processing, the DuPont schedule keeps four crews rotating through days and nights across a 28-day cycle of 12-hour shifts. One full cycle for your crew looks like this:
| Phase | Length | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 shifts | Night shifts |
| 2 | 3 days | Off |
| 3 | 3 shifts | Day shifts |
| 4 | 1 day | Off (the "turnaround" day) |
| 5 | 3 shifts | Night shifts |
| 6 | 3 days | Off |
| 7 | 4 shifts | Day shifts |
| 8 | 7 days | Off — the famous week-long break |
Four crews run this same loop offset by a week each, which is what keeps the plant covered every hour of every day. Unlike the Pitman or 2-2-3, your crew works both days and nights within each cycle — the price you pay for the schedule's signature reward.
The 7 days off: the reason people tolerate the rest
Every 28 days, the DuPont hands you a full week off — no PTO spent, guaranteed by the pattern. Over a year that is thirteen week-long breaks. Plant workers plan hunting trips, home projects, and family visits entirely inside these windows, and it is the single biggest reason crews vote to keep the DuPont when alternatives come up. The calculator above makes those windows obvious: scroll the calendar and the empty rows jump out.
DuPont by the numbers
- Cycle: 28 days — 14 working shifts (7 days, 7 nights)
- Average week: 42 hours, but real weeks swing from 0 to 60 hours
- Longest stretch: 4 consecutive 12-hour shifts
- Hardest moment: the single "turnaround" day off between a day block and a night block
- Best moment: 7 consecutive days off, every single cycle
Surviving the rotation
- Guard the turnaround day. One day to flip from finishing days to starting nights is not enough to fully reset — experienced hands nap strategically instead of trying to force a full flip.
- Front-load errands before the 4-shift blocks. Those stretches leave little usable daylight, especially the night block.
- Anchor your calendar once. Set the calculator's start date to the first night of any 4-night block you remember, export the .ics, and stop recomputing the cycle in your head every time someone proposes a date.
DuPont vs. Pitman vs. 2-2-3
All three are 4-crew, 12-hour, 42-hour-average rotations — the difference is what they optimize. The DuPont concentrates your rest into one glorious week per month but mixes days and nights. The Pitman and 2-2-3/Panama keep you on a fixed shift with a gentle two-week pulse and an every-other-weekend guarantee, but never hand you more than three days off at once. Which is "better" is genuinely personal — check both calendars against your family rhythm and see which one fights you less.
Frequently asked questions
What is the DuPont schedule?
The DuPont is a 28-day rotating shift schedule for 24/7 operations using four crews and 12-hour shifts. A full cycle runs: 4 night shifts, 3 days off, 3 day shifts, 1 day off, 3 night shifts, 3 days off, 4 day shifts, then 7 consecutive days off. It averages 42 hours per week.
How does the 7 days off work on a DuPont schedule?
Once every 28-day cycle, each crew finishes its 4-day block and then has seven consecutive days off — effectively a built-in mini-vacation every month, without using any PTO.
What is a modified DuPont schedule?
Sites tweak the classic sequence to fix its pain points — common modifications split the 4-shift blocks into shorter runs, swap where the single day off lands, or slow the day/night rotation. The 28-day, 4-crew, 42-hour skeleton usually stays the same. If your site runs a modified version, set the calculator to a date you know and verify a full week before trusting the rest.
Is the DuPont schedule hard on sleep?
It is one of the tougher common rotations because you flip between nights and days inside the same month, and there is one single day off between a day block and a night block. Most workers say the 7-day break is what makes it worth it.
How many hours per week is the DuPont schedule?
You work 14 twelve-hour shifts per 28-day cycle — 168 hours per cycle, which averages 42 hours per week. Individual weeks swing much harder: a 60-hour week appears once per cycle, balanced by the zero-hour vacation week.