Development of cost estimation model of the membrane system

Abstract

Apart from product quality, the manufacturing cost is an important element to compete in the competitive industry. Detail economic assessment is important to estimate the product cost accurately and avoid overestimating or underestimating that give bad impact to the firm. Membrane system; a compact, sustainable and cheaper wastewater treatment system compared to the traditional system. Yet, there is limited study analysing the economic aspect of the membrane system due to the limited historical data, a complicated process involved and deal with tangible overhead costs. Thus, this study aims to develop a cost model to estimate the total cost of the membrane system during its lifespan. Activity-based costing (ABC) method is used as cost estimation technique to calculating the overhead cost and added the direct costs to determine the life-cycle cost (LCC) of the membrane system by using Microsoft Excel while Microsoft Visual Basic is used to demonstrate a user-friendly cost estimation model. The proposed cost model is a simpler system because the end user is guided to get the LCC value without has to deal with a complicated equation. The proposed model cost is tested to estimating the LCC of HFMM in treating wastewater from the prototype stage until the disposal stage.