Separating Water-Plant Equipment Cost from Operating Cost

A mineral-water project has source, treatment, packaging, site and operating costs. Keep one-time equipment purchases separate from recurring bottle, cap, label, energy and labour costs. Otherwise the apparent cost per bottle changes simply because unlike items were combined.

Build the equipment boundary

Identify treatment, filling and downstream packing, then add installation and utility work required at the site. Use current quotations for those items rather than a universal percentage allocation.

Use accepted output as the denominator

Divide the relevant production costs by saleable bottles for the same period. Record rejects, cleaning and unused capacity separately. A cost calculation based on nameplate output can understate the actual cost when the line runs short campaigns.