And why procurement managers should calculate total cost of installation

Most of the time that procurement managers look for repair products, there’s one factor that overrides all – price. There are two products that do the job. Pick the one that’s cheaper. While price is a legitimate factor to consider, it’s not the ONLY factor. Total installation cost, which assesses the labor costs to install the product, is also critically important and when combined with product price offers utilities a fuller cost assessment. HYMAX products, for example, are easier and faster to install, and require fewer workers performing fewer hours. When total installation cost is calculated, HYMAX products can save utilities money compared to lower priced products requiring more man hours.

HYMAX has developed a total cost of installation calculator that accounts for product price and labor costs including:

• Repair product price and restraining system (as required)
• Number of workers
• Hourly wages for each worker
• Installation time

To use the calculator, you simply enter your crew’s wages and the number of workers being employed (see example below).

TABLE 1

 

The calculator automatically computes the total cost of installation with product cost for HYMAX products based on HYMAX’s estimations obtained over years of observing their product installations.

See below a sample calculation using product and labor costs (as computed in table 1) of an 8” HYMAX GRIP and a competing product that requires restraint system installation. All numbers brought here are real numbers based on actual installation time and prices of both HYMAX products and competitors’ products, provided by one of Kruasz’s customers in North America.

TABLE 2

The HYMAX GRIP product price is $576 compared to the lower competitor product price of $350 (see circled in red). When the actual install time and labor costs are accounted for, however, there are savings of $219.

 

Here is another example of the calculator with an 8” HYMAX coupling (again, using the labor cost calculated in table 1). When comparing the product on price alone, the HYMAX costs $116 more (see circled in blue) but when the price is combined with labor costs, there are savings of $180 compared to the competing product (see circled in purple).

TABLE 3

The HYMAX GRIP, HYMAX 2 and HLD, for example, require only two or four bolts to tighten (depending on the OD size) compared to competing products with multiple bolts – sometimes as many as 20 for larger sized ODs. These bolts are also top-facing, meaning no-under digging is required, which can be a time-consuming and dangerous task. For the HYMAX GRIP, there is no need to install a restraining system, such as rodding, as the axial restraint system is built-in, while HLDs feature a one-piece, stab-fit design that is much simpler to install compared to competing products requiring multiple parts to assemble.

When you buy Hymax repair products, you are not only getting a high-quality product that minimizes time in the ditch but you are also saving money when labor costs are taken into account. Try out the calculator yourself and see the how much you can save with lower installation costs offered by Hymax products.

To see a live demonstration of the total installation cost calculator with your own repair products, contact us by clicking this link.