of equipment 7.9 cents (table 3). These costs do not include equipment and 

 labor for bagging apples, pr placing bags in master cartons. Some additional 

 equipment cost would be associated with the bagging operation, but the present 

 cell packers and utility-grade topper could furnish the necessary labor from 

 time that would otherwise be idle. 



Table 3. --Labor and equipment costs for performing packing operations with 

 the experimental packing line--50,000 boxes dumped annually, at 900 boxes 

 per day 









Crew 

 , size : 



Cost 



Cost item 



Per : 

 day : 



Per box 

 dumped 



: Per 

 : container 









Number 



: Dollars 



: 10.00 



: 60.00 



: 40.00 



20.00 



Cents 



1.1 

 6.7 

 4.4 

 2.2 



Cents 



Labor: 



1 



6 



4 



: 2 



1/ 1.1 





1/ 6.7 

 2/ 7.2 





Boxing utilities and 



culls. . 

 jor . . . 



3/ 7.8 



Total lal 



13 



: 130.00 

 : 70.80 



14.4 

 7.9 







sment 



*/• 





Total labor and equi] 



• 13 



: 200.80 



22.3 





1/ Based on 900 Northeast boxes dumped daily. 

 2/ Based on 555 cell type cartons packed daily. 

 3/ Based on 256 Northeast boxes filled daily. 



4/ Costs for bagging apples were not developed, since no experimental 

 equipment or methods were involved. 



Thirteen workers constitute the packing crew: One dumper, 6 sorters, 

 4 cell packers, and 2 utility and cull grade boxers. The operation of a 

 packinghouse requires bring-up men, labelers, tally clerks, load-out men, and 

 others in addition to these. However, these workers were not included in 

 this analysis, since their work was not directly associated with the experi- 

 mental equipment which was being tested. 



Total daily cost for packing 50,000 dumped boxes per year at 900 boxes 

 per day was $200.80 or 22.3 cents for each box dumped. Labor represents 

 65 percent, and equipment 35 percent of this cost. 



The effect of an increased volume of apples dumped and packed with this 

 equipment is illustrated in table 4. By increasing the annual volume to 

 150,000 boxes dumped at a daily rate of 1,200 boxes, cost per box dumped 

 would be reduced from 22.3 cents to 15.3 cents. Since the cost of equipment 

 is spread over more packing days, the total daily cost would be reduced from 

 $200.80 to $183.32. This would be accomplished despite a $10 increase in the 

 daily cost of labor. These comparative figures are a clear example of gains 

 to be realized by using equipment to its maximum capacity. 



- 17 - 



