Other Co8l8 



Management. Annual costs for buying, management, and office func- 

 tions were determined for each truck size, and for mukiples of each 

 truck size up to 12. These were based upon fractional allocations from 

 data for these and other functions, plus selling, for the entire operation 

 of a poultry processing plant.' Allowance for selling live birds is not 

 included in the "management" group figures for this study. Multiple 

 unit firms (additional trucks of the same size) are able to realize econo- 

 mies of scale in management. Economies also exist in moving from a 

 given truck to one of larger capacity provided volume is expandable. 



Depreciation — Crates. Crates are an item of considerable expense to 

 poultry assemblers. Probably careful handling, periodic repairing, and 

 minimizing exposure to the elements would reduce costs below the 

 present levels. 



Tn this analysis, depreciation was varied according to the percent of 

 capacity at which the unit operated. Each 10 percent change in volume 

 was accomnanied by a charge of 10c per crate per year for depreci- 

 ation. For example, at 50 percent capacity, the charge was $1.50 per 

 crate per year, and at 100 per cent capacity, $2.00 per crate per year. 



The number of crates owned was determined to be proportionate to 

 numbers established in an earlier study involving model processing 

 plants.'^ Crate numbers are more than double the number per truck 

 to allow for crates held at loading and unloading points and in the pro- 

 cess of repair. The number of crates required was approximated by the 

 following formula: 



Annual volume in pounds 



„ . at 100 percent capacity 



I\o. oi crates = = — ., , ,^ „ 



11,667 



Buildings 



Building space provided for model assembly firms includes provision 

 for areas devoted to an undercover unloading dock, platform for full 

 and empty crates, crate cleaning and storage, weighing, and office. Most 

 assembly firms do not provide garaee space for vehicles: at best, some 

 misht back vehicles into the unloading area. Although some firms pro- 

 vide space for repairing and servicing vehicles, herein, no provision is 

 made for special areas for these purposes. While some firms may have 

 space devoted to holding birds in batteries, such is regarded in these 

 analyses as related to processing or selling rather than assembly. Hence, 

 no batterv area is included under building space. 



The scTuare feet of building space provided for assembly firms was de- 

 termined in relation to annual volume. The amount of space was de- 

 termined in proportion to that provided in an earlier study of process- 

 ing nlants for the same purposes enumerated above. The total cost of 

 such space was established by using the costs per square foot for pro- 

 cessing plants of like area.^ 



Appendix Table II shows the rates used to determine certain fixed 

 overhead costs, and Appendix Table III the dollar investment required 

 for selected model firms. 



7 N. H., Sta. Bui. 459, op. cit.. Table 8, p. 30. 



^ Op. cit.. Appendix Table I, p. 52. 



^ Op. cit., data used to calculate Tables 5 and 6, p. 24 and 26. 



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