Development of real-time product cost measurement: A case study in a medium-sized manufacturing company

作者：Wouters Marc^*; Stecher Julia

来源：International Journal of Production Economics, 2017, 183: 235-244.

DOI：10.1016/j.ijpe.2016.10.018

• Product costing systems
• Case study
• Manufacturing
• Medium-sized company
• Time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC)

Data availability and the need for updating are important considerations when designing product costing systems. This paper describes the development of a costing system in a medium sized company to better understand these issues. The company wanted to be able to assess profitability of products on a more comprehensive basis than the contribution margins of products, which included merely the direct material costs. The resulting system uses practical capacity to compute rates and is based on a hybrid of machining and labor times. The most innovative aspect is the use of real-time data on machine times in manufacturing, in the context of a large number and frequently changing products. The study also helps to better understand the limitations of time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC), and it highlights the role of "data discovery" for the design of costing systems.

• 出版日期2017-1