PROCESS ECONOMICS PROGRAM

Transcription

1 PROCESS ECONOMICS PROGRAM SRI INTERNATIONAL Manlo Park, California ABSTRACT Process Economics Program Report No. 140 OPERATING COSTS IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AND THEIR ESTIMATION (April 1981) This report is concerned with various elements of operating costs in the chemical industry other than raw materials and energy. The principal data are specific to U.S. conditions. However, with adjustments, the results are applicable to other countries. SRI has developed new correlations for operating and maintenance labor requirements, plant overhead, and selling, general and administrative, and R&D cost. Other cost elements are reviewed. SRI has developed nonarbitrary methods for allocating utilities credits, and costs of by-products, coproducts, and joint products. We extended the general approach to include the development of a method of calculating transfer prices consistent with management objectives in.establishing profit centers. All of these methods apply to both cost estimation and actual operations. Capital and labor productivity trends in the U.S. chemical industry are evaluated. Labor productivity trends for several other industrial countries are also presented. PEP'79 KEL

2 Report No. 140 OPERATING COSTS IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AND THEIR ESTIMATION by KENNETH E. LUNDE April 1981 A private report by the PROCESS ECONOMICS PROGRAM Menlo Park, California 94025

3 For detailed marketing data and information, the reader is referred to one of the SRI programs specializing in marketing research. The CHEMICAL ECONOMICS HANDBOOK Program covers most major chemicals and chemical products produced in the United States and the WORLD PETROCHEMICALS Program covers major hydrocarbons and their derivatives on a worldwide basis. In addition, the SRI DIRECTORY OF CHEMICAL PRODUCERS services provide detailed lists of chemical producers by company, prod- uct, and plant for the United States and Western Europe. ii

4 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.... SUMMARY... Operating Cost Elements... Cost Allocations and Transfer Prices.... Cost Projections.... OPERATING COST ELEMENTS... Operating Labor Requirements.... Control Laboratory.... Maintenance and Operating Supplies Costs.... Property Taxes and Insurance.... Plant Overhead... Working Capital and Inventory... Book Depreciation and Retirement.... Administration, Selling, and Research Costs... COST ALLOCATIONS AND TRANSFER PRICES.... Review of Literature.... Overhead... By-Products... Coproducts.... Joint Products.... Transfer Prices... Utilities Costs and Credits... Proposed Approaches to Cost Allocations... Overhead... By-Product Costs and Credits.... Utilities Credit.... Coproducts.... Joint Products or Multiproducts... Transfer Prices... COST PROJECTIONS Review of Literature.... Analysis of Productivity Trends in the Chemical Industry... Contribution of Technology to Productivity in the Chemical Industry iii

5 CONTENTS 6 COMPARISON OF OPERATING COST ELEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES WITH THOSE IN SELECTED OTHER INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES Operating and Maintenance Labor Overhead Labor Productivity RECOMMENDED METHODS FOR ESTIMATING OPERATING COSTS Operating Cost Elements Operating Labor Control Laboratory Maintenance Labor and Materials and Operating Supplies Plant Overhead Working Capital and Inventory Book Depreciation, Plant Retirements, and Replacement Cost Property Taxes and Insurance Administrative, Selling, and R&D Wages, Salaries, and Employee Benefits Cost Allocations Capital and Labor Cost Projections Capital Investment and Capital-Related Costs, Chemical Industry Average Labor Cost, Chemical Industry Average Cost Projections, Industry Subsectors, and Individual Plants Adjustments for Countries Other Than the United States CITED REFERENCES iv

6 ILLUSTRATIONS Operating Labor Requirements, Continuous Processes Reactor and Furnace Basis Operating Labor Requirements, Continuous Processes Equipment Item Basis Maintenance Labor Historical Trends in Plant Overhead Nonproduction Employees, Payroll and Number; Percent of Production Employees, Payroll and Number Plant Overhead as Related to Plant Size Sic 28, Chemicals and Allied Products Plant Overhead as Related to Plant Size Commodity Organic Chemical and Petroleum Refining Industries Plant Overhead as Related to Plant Size Synthetic Fibers and Other Mostly Single-Product Plants.... Plant Overhead as Related to Plant Size Specialty Chemicals Growth in Corporate Staff Employees in Administrative and Auxiliary Units, Percent of Production Workers Industry Centralization Number of Manufacturing Establishments per Administrative and Auxiliary Unit..... Central Administrative Offices Sic 28, Chemicals and Allied Products Growth in Corporate Payroll Sic 28, Chemicals and Allied Products Plant and Corporate Nonproduction Workers Sic 28, Chemicals and Allied Products Administration and Selling Costs in Comparison of Calculated and Reported Administration and Selling Costs $ Million in V

7 ILLUSTRATIONS 5.1 Factor Productivity Trends in the Chemical Industry Chemicals Production......, Physical Productivity Trends in the Chemical Industry Sic Physical Productivity Trends in Plastics and Resin Materials Sic , Physical Productivity Trends in Basic Organic Chemicals Sic : Trends in Plant Capacity, Investment Exponent, and Labor Exponent Sic 28, Chemicals and Allied Products Contribution of Technology Advances to Productivity in the Chemical Industry since Relation Between Published Information and Technical Productivity in the Chemical Industry Comparison of Chemical Industry Labor Productivity Trends in Various Countries ,., Vi

8 TABLES Equipment Count Inventory Turnover Ratios Gluten and Starch Production Base Case Gluten and Starch Production Case A (Hard Wheat Flour) Usual Ranges in Cost Element Exponents for Chemical Plants Gluten and Starch Production Flour Mix Profit Optimization and Cost Allocation Equations Disaggregated Cost Elements Gluten and Starch Production Results of Flour Mix Profit Optimization Conditions Assumed in VCM and PVC Example Transfer Price for Vinyl Chloride Monomer and Returns on Replacement Value Plant Capacity and Physical Productivity Growth Rates in the Chemical Industry Comparison of Economic Productivity Growth Rates Sic 28 - Chemicals and Allied Products Cost Structure of the Chemical Industry in 1975 Sic Production Worker Hourly Wages and Benefits in the Chemical Industries of Various Countries Mid-1975, Local Currencies Approximate Man-Hour Requirements for Loading and Unloading Liquids Plant Overhead Payroll Equations Typical Timing for Elements of Working Capital Average Administration, Selling, and Research and Development Costs Wages, Salaries, and Employee Benefits in the Chemical Industry Vii