16. Economic Life of a Machine
The economic life of machinery is defined as the period during which the cost of owning and operating the machine is minimized. It involves an analysis of various cost factors including repair, maintenance, downtime, and obsolescence and how they impact overall costs over time. This chapter presents a systematic approach to estimating the economic life through the application of the double declining balance method for depreciation and replacement analysis.
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What we have learnt
- Economic life refers to the period in which the total cost of machine ownership is minimized.
- Depreciation using double declining balance method and influence of inflation on replacement costs are critical in the analysis.
- Factors like maintenance, downtime, and obsolescence contribute to the cumulative costs associated with a machine over its useful life.
Key Concepts
- -- Economic Life
- The duration during which a machine's operational costs are minimized, beyond which costs begin to rise.
- -- Depreciation
- The reduction in the value of an asset over time, calculated here using the double declining balance method.
- -- Downtime Costs
- The costs incurred due to the unavailability of machines for productive work, particularly associated with mechanical failures.
- -- Obsolescence
- The decrease in value of machines as new technologies or models render the existing ones less competitive.
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