Operating Costs at Four Potato Packing Plants

Report Summary: This report is concerned with the costs of labor, materials, equipment, and ownership operation at four potato packing plants. The man-hour production rate at the four firms studied during 1974 ranged from 709.5 to 1,131.4 pounds of potatoes. The highest production occurred at one of the smaller volume potato firms; however, the lowest production was at the firm with the least volume. In this study the production rate was not necessarily dependent on volume but on other factors, such as (1) scheduling of field and plant crews, (2) unloading area capacity to avoid delays in feeding the production line, (3) plant layout, (4) crew skill, (5) automatic bag filling and closing, (6) mechanized handling, (7) palletization, and (8) grade-out variation of potatoes. The costs per unit for labor, materials, and equipment for packing potatoes in master containers with ten 5-pound bags were $0.971 at firm A and $0.915 at firm B. Firms C and D were packing six 8-pound and five 10-pound bags in master containers at $0.986 and $1.027, respectively