Every company today is looking at ways to manage their operational costs and increase their profitability however, the best way to do it is through Total cost of ownership (TCO), which is determining the cost of a product or system. TCO is essentially a management accounting concept that helps determine the economic value of an investment thus allowing people to be cognizant of what they are purchasing by looking at the complete cost TCO has been effectively used by enterprises across various sectors including plant automation. Determination of TCO in the process automation field though has unique requirements: it must account for long and variable lifecycles; necessary reliability; platform switching costs; possible disruption to operations when changes are made; and the costs of training staff so users can be proficient with new equipment Other factors that must be considered are risks and efficiencies in process applications and the value of flexibility and scalability. It is also important to align with strategic process project goals. All indications though point to TCO becoming a greater factor in the future of the process industries as manufacturers are constantly tasked with producing higher-quality products using fewer resources.
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