Screw Costs

Modified on Saturday, 31 January 2015 03:50 PM by mpieler — Categorized as: Consultants Corner

Screw costs
Vol. 22 #1, May 1995

Screws always seem expensive when you want to change how your process is running. Consequently, many people tend to run a poorly performing screw long after it should have been changed. Convert the cost of the screw into an equivalent volume of resin or into a profit per day from this line and deter mine the real payback for the cost of the screw. In my industry, screws cost $30 - $40,000 each, but at 3000 pounds per hour of a $.40 per pound resin, if you waste 100,000 pounds, of resin, you justified the cost of a new screw. A new screw would represent 33 hours of processing. The message is that if the screw is not meeting your needs, take it out and throw it away because after all its only worth one to two days worth of resin. Add the wasted labor and over head cost and the justification is even higher.

- E. Mount

See also:
Return to Consultants' Corner