An improved activity-based costing model for product cost estimation applied in a complex manufacturing environment

In order to evaluate and estimate the costs of products produced in a complex manufacturing environment properly,an improved activity-based costing(ABC) model is presented.By utilizing the input-output analysis method,the complex consumption relationships in a complex manufacturing environment are first expressed.The consumption characteristics(mainly presented by the activity rates) of all production activities are extracted by solving these relationships.Then with the consumption characteristics and operating parameters of these activities,the detailed cost consumption of a product in its manufacturing process is estimated.A case study is finally given based on the compressor products of a manufacturing company,and its effectiveness is shown.As the cost influence of complex consumption relationships is fully considered,the limitation of traditional ABC method is overcome,and therefore a high accuracy in product cost estimation under the complex manufacturing environment can be achieved.

A Pragmatic Approach to Product Costing Based on Standard Time Estimation

The major drawbacks of traditional approaches to product costing include lack of manufacturing knowledge, reliance on the detailed design description, poor cost function approximation and inability to update estimation algorithms by using actual cost data. Adopting the Activity-Based Costing (ABC) concept and based on estimated processing time, this paper proposes a pragmatic approach to product costing. The approach involves two stages, namely the preparatory stage and the estimation stage. A case study conducted in a refrigerator company is reported.

Comparative Analysis of Sugar Production Cost in Guangxi and World Major Producing Countries

Guangxi is the largest sugar producing area in China and shoulders heavy responsibilities for the development of China’s sugar industry.In recent years,China’s sugar industry has been greatly impacted by the foreign low-cost sugar industry,and the planting area of sugarcane has been declining.The development foundation of the sugar industry is the sugarcane seed industry.Under the impact of foreign low-price sugar,China’s sugarcane industry is under greater pressure for development,and the sugarcane seed industry shoulders more arduous responsibilities.In order to cope with international competition,the development of Guangxi’s sugarcane industry urgently needs to establish a development model oriented towards improved varieties,scale and mechanization of sugarcane,so as to promote the high-quality development of Guangxi’s sugarcane industry and effectively respond to the pressure of competition in the international sugarcane industry.

Analysis of the Changes in China's Grain Production Costs over the Past Decade

China's grain production cost has risen constantly since 2003. This paper starts from the grain production cost changes of unit area and unit quality,to analyze the reasons for China's grain production cost change in the last decade. It points out that the direct cause of changes in grain production cost is the steady growth of material and services costs,the fastest growth of labor costs and fast growth of land costs. The indirect cause of grain production high cost is the low efficiency in numerous and dispersive farmer production management,obviously insufficient agricultural infrastructure construction,waste phenomenon grain in production process and low contribution rate of agricultural technology.On this basis,it is recommended to reduce China's grain production cost and improve grain production conditions.

Formulation, Preparation and Evaluation of Low-Cost Extrude Products Based on Cereals and Pulses

Protein-energy malnutrition among children is the major health challenges and it may be related to low nutritional quality of traditional complementary foods and high cost of quality protein-based complementary foods. The aim of this study was formulation, preparation and evaluation of low-cost extruded products based on cereals and pulses. Composite flours were prepared using cereals and pulses, then formulated and extruded by a twin screw extruder in Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results showed: the protein contents of extruded formulas B, D and F were in the highest values. Carbohydrate in the extruded formula A was significantly higher than others. The lowest amount of ash and crude fiber were observed in the formula A. Content of energy in the extruded formulas E, F and C was higher;mean (SD) of Fe content in the extruded formula B, D and F was in the higher ranks among others. Calcium content in the extruded formulas C, E and F was in the highest amounts. Magnesium content in the extruded formulas B, D and F was higher than others. Cu content in the extruded formula C, D, B and F was higher than others. Manganese content in the extruded formulas B, C and F, and zinc content in the formulas B, D and F were higher than others. Tap density showed the lowest amount in the formula B, D and F, while their bulk density was higher. WHC was in the highest amount in the extruded formula A, while WSI in the extruded formula B, D and followed by F was in the highest amount. The mean scores of sensory evaluation of extruded products F showed that this combination has significantly better colour, flavour, texture and overall acceptability than others.

Mitigating the Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Exploitation: Issues of Compliance, Cost of Production, and Community Awareness

This study assessed the effectiveness of mitigation measures adopted to address the environmental effects of oil and gas industries from the perspective of compliance, cost of production, and community awareness. The research applied a case study through multi-method-qualitative and quantitative approaches. The target population of 547,368 people involved people in Takoradi, Shama and Newtown communities. A sample size of 150 was selected and categorised under 36% for Shama, 30% for Newtown and 34% for Takoradi. A combination of probability (simple random) and non-probability (cluster and convenience) sampling frames were used to access the respondents for the study. Data collection tools were limited to questionnaires and interview sessions. The descriptive statistics, Relative Importance Index (RII) and significance testing using a one-sample t-test module guided the analysis. Interview sessions were compiled into transcripts and later categorized into themes that directly reflected the patterns of the questions on the questionnaire. The conclusion rated major decisions in mitigating oil and gas impacts on the environment as first for conscious effort to package fuel and other chemicals in safe storages, followed by the use of best road systems to reduce the risk of accidents, then application of strict rules and regulations to curb impacts and lastly capacity building for participants in the oil and gas production industry. While significant measures have been adopted to mitigate the effects of oil and gas exploration, there remain challenges with effectiveness as a result of weakness in community involvement efforts, lack of motivation, weak laws and regulations and loss of respect. For effectiveness in reducing the challenges to mitigate the environmental impacts of the oil and gas production activity, policymakers, as well as the practitioners in the oil production industry, are advised to motivate people into buying into their policy to reduce such impacts.

Assessing the Impacts of Variable Input Costs on Maize Production in Cameroon

Agricultural inputs are necessities in a production process just as food is a necessity for human survival. Production comes with the use of inputs. The cultivation of maize in Cameroon is predominantly dominated by smallholder farmers who use traditional methods and face drudgery. The current production level of maize in the country is declining and to meet consumption requirements, huge quantities of the commodity are imported. This study questions the impacts of variable input costs on maize production. Inputs are building blocks of production costs;it is therefore important for maize farmers to be alerted on the effective use of farm inputs in order to obtain higher returns. Data were collected with the use of a structured questionnaire. They were analysed using descriptive statistics and OLS Regression techniques. Results show that on average per hectare, each maize farmer spends USD10.12 on seeds, USD28.90 on fertilizer, USD8.90 on labour, and USD13.28 on herbicides. The regression results show that estimated coefficients of unit costs of fertilizer, herbicides and labour were negative but insignificant while land and hybrid seeds were positive. Input subsidy is recommended as a policy instrument to lower prices paid by farmers.

Changing Trend and Influencing Factors of Rice Production Cost in China

Rice is one of the three major food crops in China.The change of its production cost is related to food security and farmers'income in China.This paper analyzes the changing trend of rice production cost in China from 2009 to 2019,analyzes the factors leading to the change from the aspects of land scale,labor force structure,agricultural science and technology level,etc.On this basis,this paper puts forward measures and suggestions to reduce rice production cost and improve farmers'income.

Investigation and Analysis on Production Cost of Guangxi Sugar Industry

Guangxi is the largest cane sugar production base in China,with more than 20 million sugar related personnel,and sugar related personnel account for about 50%of the total population in Guangxi.The development of cane sugar industry plays an important role in Guangxi and even the whole country.At present,there are still many difficulties and problems in Guangxi sugar industry,such as imperfect industrial chain,high industrial operation cost and weak comprehensive competitiveness.In this paper,by analyzing production cost of cane sugar,management cost,financial cost and cane consumption of sugar per ton in Guangxi,and starting from the problems in cane sugar production of Guangxi,development countermeasures of Guangxi sugar industry reducing cost and increasing efficiency under the new situation are put forward.

Estimation of the Production Cost of Date Fruits of Cultivar Majhoul (<i>Phoenix dactylifera</i>L.) and Evaluation of the Moroccan Competitiveness towards the Major Exporting Regions in the World

The aim of the present study was to estimate the production cost of dates of cv. Majhoul (Phoenix dactylifera L.) as part of the Moroccan strategy to develop the date palm sector, and to compare it to that reported in the main exporting regions. Data were collected through surveys of farmers and farm owners carried out in the “Meski Boudnib” extension zone during 2018 and 2019, as well as from studies performed by some governmental organizations. The surveys were conducted on 30 modern and productive date palm farms, managed in monoculture and equipped with localized irrigation systems. All fixed and variable costs were calculated. It was found, through our calculations, that the subsidies from the Moroccan government reduce the average investment cost of a modern date palm farm by 56%. It was also shown that the production cost of one ton of date fruits of cv. Majhoul in the extension zone “Meski Boudnib” (Morocco) is estimated at about 6060 MAD (US$ 634.5), out of which 28% represents the labor cost and 23% represents mineral and organic fertilization costs. The findings of the present study revealed that the production cost of one ton of cv. Majhoul dates in “Meski Boudnib” is lower than those reported in the Coachella Valley (20,189 MAD/ton;US$ 2114) and the Jordan Valley (10,536 MAD/ton;US$ 1103).

Structure and Change of Costs for Flue-cured Tobacco Production:A Case Study of Liuyang Tobacco Growing Areas

On the basis of consulting related information and data,costs for flue-cured tobacco production were surveyed and analyzed with Liuyang tobacco growing areas as an example.Results showed that there is rise and fall in fertilizer cost for flue-cured tobacco production;change in pesticide and agricultural plastic film is little;other costs for flue-cured tobacco production rise rapidly in recent years.Besides,there is certain reduction in labor units per mu for flue-cured tobacco production;labor price has an annual growth rate of 15%-25%.The proportion of labor cost to total cost for flue-cured tobacco production is increasing,thus rise of labor cost is the major factor promoting rise of costs for flue-cured tobacco production.Through adjustment of purchasing price and various subsidies,the change of per mu yield is a decisive factor influencing benefits of flue-cured tobacco production.

Forecasting grain production costs in the backdrop of economic cycles

This research indicates that with the changes in economic cycles, China's production costs are experiencing "wave-shaped" spiral growth. From 2004 to 2008, China's grain production costs increased rapidly, with the primary driving force the rapid growth of labor, land and material costs. In the middle stage of industrialization, China's grain production costs will experience spiral growth following economic cyclical fluctuations, entering relative stability after a certain period. From 2009 to around 2012, grain production costs will drop, but average production costs may be higher than in the current upward cycle. From 2013 to around 2020, grain production costs will rise again and be much higher than in the current upward cycle.

Warranty Cost Model Based on Optimal Preventive Maintenance Operations for Repairable Products

Most warranty cost models based on preventive maintenance operations are assumed that products improve at each preventive maintenance(PM)operation and the failure rate is reduced to the failure rate of new products or to some specified level.To make warranty cost models more suitable to real operations,a modeling method of the PM warranty cost was proposed with the situation where each PM operation slowed the rate of product degradation.A warranty cost model was built on PM operations.On the basis of the cost model,both without and with reliability limit PM warranty policy,algorithms were presented to derive the optimal PM number and the optimal PM interval with an objective of minimizing expected total warranty cost over a finite warranty period.Finally,to demonstrate the feasibility of the presented modeling method,Weibull distribution cases were tested by numerical simulations.The simulation results indicate that the proposed modeling method is feasible and valid for resolving the optimal solution of the product warranty cost.

A Novel PSO Algorithm for Optimal Production Cost of the Power Producers with Transient Stability Constraints

The application of a novel Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method called Fitness Distance Ratio PSO (FDR PSO) algorithm is described in this paper to determine the optimal power dispatch of the Independent Power Producers (IPP) with linear ramp model and transient stability constraints of the power producers. Generally the power producers must respond quickly to the changes in load and wheeling transactions. Moreover, it becomes necessary for the power producers to reschedule their power generation beyond their power limits to meet vulnerable situations like credible contingency and increase in load conditions. During this process, the ramping cost is incurred if they violate their permissible elastic limits. In this paper, optimal production costs of the power producers are computed with stepwise and piecewise linear ramp rate limits. Transient stability limits of the power producers are also considered as addi-tional rotor angle inequality constraints while solving the Optimal Power Flow (OPF) problem. The proposed algo-rithm is demonstrated on practical 10 bus and 26 bus systems and the results are compared with other optimization methods.

Labor compensation,labor productivity and labor cost advantage—An empirical study of Chinese manufacturing enterprises during 2000-2007

Unlike the usual practice of equating wages or labor compensation with labor cost,this paper incorporates labor productivity into an analytical framework and holds that the labor cost advantage is the relative relationship between labor compensation and labor productivity.Based on an empirical study of the data of Chinese manufacturing firms that include all state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises with their annual revenue greater than 5 million yuan from 2000 to 2007,this paper finds that labor compensation growth was accompanied by faster labor productivity growth.Hence,the labor cost advantage was not weakened during this period.Furthermore,this paper conducts an exploration of how to sustain labor cost advantages in the future and proposes that they can be sustained by upgrading the industrial structure and improving the education system.

Study Competition Channel Structure Based on the Differences of Cost and Products

The purpose of this paper is to expand Trivedi’s study on the influence of channel structure ,which based on product difference, to cost difference; and analyze the evolution course of channel structure under different conditions. We find that like product difference, cost difference have important influence on the choice of channel structure. This paper has improved the present result and provided proof for the choice of channel structure under different environments.

Forecasting on Indonesian Coal Production and Future Extraction Cost: A Tool for Formulating Policy on Coal Marketing

Since 2011 Indonesia has become the world’s largest exporter of steam coal. Two supporting factors of Indonesia to be the largest exporter are its enormous production and low operating cost. This paper foresees the production and extraction cost of Indonesian coal in the coming period to evaluate marketing policies and estimate the cost of Indonesian coal supply in domestic market as well as in export market. The production forecasting is carried out by Gompertz curve. Peak production of Indonesian coal is expected to take place in 2026. Moreover, the extraction cost in coal basins which produce high calorific value of coal, in accordance to the operating cost forecasting, is higher than the one with low calorific value of coal due to its higher stripping ratio. Three main basins of Central Sumatra, Tarakan, and Barito basins play major rule in supplying coal for domestic use in short term. And other coal basins such as South Sumatra, Kutai, Bengkulu, and Ombilin basins provide long term supply in the domestic and export markets.

Economic Evaluation of Production Costs and Returns of Potato Crop in Sylhet Region of Bangladesh

Potato production is becoming one of the major profitable crops among the famers in the northeastern part of Bangladesh. This study investigates the occupational status, land tenure arrangement, household income scenarios, and estimates the level of costs and net income variation for potato production in the greater Sylhet areas of Bangladesh by using the both descriptive and statistical techniques. The descriptive results exhibit that most of the households involved in farming as well as other income generating activities;however, the highest income share comes from the household business followed by agricultural activities. Near about half of the farmers belonged from the small category (46.39 percent) and around 37 percent were pure tenant while 30 percent were mixed tenant involved with both sharecropping and cash lease farming. Nonagricultural income and remittance are the key income sources of employment that influence the average per capita income. Agriculture share was approximately 9 percent in total household income where rice dominates the major share and potato does not have significant contribution. However, seed, irrigation, fertilizer, and hired labor cost were the major cost components for potato cultivation. This study also decomposed the variance of net income into different factors and found that gross income difference exists among the farmers due to the fertilizer and seed cost variation. Gross income explained the net income variation, which implies that potato yield or potato price (quality) or both vary widely among the farmers. This study can contribute to making?links between the shares of farm household income that would be helpful for policy makers to understand the causes of cost and income variation as well as opt for better strategies to support the farmers.