11/5/2015 1:11 PM
One thing that may help put the replacement into perspective is a very long term replacement plan.
Extend an inventory replacement spreadsheet out to 25 or 30 years.
Many categories of machines have a fairly predictable lifespan before a lot of repair dollars are put into them.
ie. Fairway mowers - 10 years and 5000 hours Or 12 years and 6000 hrs. Showing these machines replaced 3 times over 30 years will show a continuing cost of equipment over a long term.
I provide such a spreadsheet to management along with costs of repair parts put into each product each year, as well as labor hours on each unit. This helps show parts costs associated with keeping equipment too long. Down-time costs can be established as well - product quality, customer losses etc.
This can also identify higher and lower costs between individual units, or different manufacturers of the same category.
Using a very long term plan can show membership or ownership a more defined annual cost of equipment replacement and help with a budgeting process to allow for fleet maintenance. It can help define an annual amount of money required to keep a fleet performing without excessive parts/labor costs, and downtime. showing this annual cost over 25 or 30 years often helps put "this years purchases" into perspective.
We have a 25 year plan that is modified annually based on equipment performance and costs. The bulk of mowing machinery has a defined replacement cycle, as well as utility vehicles, and sprayers, (5 to 10 yrs) and then a large category of inventory is under a 20 year replacement or as needed. Grinders, farm tractors, implements, topdressors etc