FACTON Benchmark Content

The FACTON Content contains Benchmark data available in the master data. By repeatedly updating FACTON during the year, you can always use current Benchmark data as a calculatory basis in the target cost calculation. The table shows which data the FACTON content contains:

Category	Content	Scope
Locations	Worldwide costs of space, interest rate and energy costs	Currently > 100 regions
Employees (wage data)	With 15 qualification levels per industry and 18 industries per location	Currently 270 data records per location
Machines	Machine costs, consumption rates, performance rate and maintenance costs	Currently 900
Basic materials	Calculates basic materials prices based on composition and market values	Currently > 270 (metals and plastics)
Overhead costs	Worldwide for 18 select industries depending on company size, material to sales ratio and level of automation	Currently > 680 data records

FACTON EPC Content Categories

The following sections will provide you with detailed information about the individual master data categories of the FACTON EPC content.

Locations Factors Category

FACTON content locations offer users average values for interest rates, energy costs and costs of space in a specific country.

Wages Category

The FACTON EPC content wages category contains wage data for 18 industries and over 100 regions in 15 qualification levels each. These qualification levels are based on the compensation framework agreement system (ERA). To make it easier to compare them in Germany and around the world, they are defined as follows:

Pay scale	Description
EG01 (Unskilled employee/inexperienced)	Simple work that can be performed without previous job knowledge following a short training period and brief instruction.
EG02 (Unskilled employee/experienced)	Work that requires job knowledge and skills with a certain amount of experience and a training period of at least 4 weeks.
EG03 (Skilled employee/inexperienced)	Work that requires technical knowledge and job knowledge and skills with additional experience that go beyond the requirements of the previous labor groups.
EG04 (Skilled employee/experienced)	Work that requires comprehensive technical and job knowledge and skills that are attained through completed education in a recognized semi-skilled occupation or an equivalent managerial education and corresponding experience.
EG05 (Completed education/inexperienced)	Specialized work that requires specialized skills that are attained through properly completed education geared towards the respective specialty, or work whose performance requires equivalent specialized skills and specialized knowledge.
EG06 (Completed education/experienced)	Difficult work that requires special skills and many years of experience.
EG07 (Additional specialist training of at least 1 year/inexperienced)	Employee who, after receiving detailed instruction, can independently perform tasks that require knowledge and skills that are generally learned through an education program, or a technical or commercial career.
EG08 (Additional specialist training of at least 1 year/experienced)	Employee who, after receiving instruction, can perform defined tasks that require solid technical knowledge and job skills. Tasks that require a high degree of technical knowledge and experience.
EG09 (Additional specialist training of at least 2 years/inexperienced)	Training equivalent to that of foreman with coordination and supervisory authority and with technical responsibility for a group of employees or auxiliary activity for the department foreman.
EG10 (Additional specialist training of at least 2 years/experienced)	Training equivalent to that of foreman with coordination and supervisory authority and with technical responsibility for a mid-size to large shop or a corresponding department.
EG11 (Completed education at a university of applied science)	Employees who can perform their work independently and responsibly and whose work requires multifaceted technical knowledge – including in adjacent work areas – and/or long-term, comprehensive professional experience.
EG12 (Completed education at a university)	Responsible, demanding tasks within the framework of general guidelines without special managerial responsibility. Requires knowledge and skills that are generally obtained through a completed course of study.
EG13 (Manager/inexperienced)	Responsible, demanding tasks within the framework of general guidelines as a group or department head with managerial responsibility. Requires knowledge and skills that are generally obtained through a completed course of study.
EG14 (Manager/experienced)	Complex managerial task areas as a department head or area head (authorized representative) with serious decision-making authority. Requires knowledge and skills that are generally obtained through a completed course of study.
EG15 (Executive manager)	Executive managerial tasks within a company or managerial factory manager of a manufacturing facility.

The wage data listed here is the product of the computed net hourly rate and a social overhead cost factor. This social overhead cost factor is listed separately in the description field and includes the following additional personnel costs:

• Retirement, health, nursing care, unemployment insurance
• Professional associations
• Company pensions
• Voluntary social benefits
• Vacation pay and holiday bonuses
• Capital-forming benefits
• Account management charges
• Further training
• Holidays and vacation days
• Sick days
• Staff meetings

Additional personnel costs are average values for the corresponding industry and qualification level in the respective locations. Not every country uses all of the social benefits listed here. Consequently, the social overhead cost factors are subject to fluctuations. The net hourly labor rate offers a direct basis for comparison.

Machines category

The machines category is delivered with around 900 machines classified according to manufacturing process.

The following properties are provided per machine:

Calculated values of the Chipping cost model:	Description
Depreciation Period (years)	Imputed depreciation period in machine or system years.
Acquisition Value	Total machine investment.
Connected Load (kW)	Electrical value listed for the system. Maximum value, for example, briefly achieved as the maximum during the start-up phase.
Manufacturing Method	The content machines are group by the manufacturing method. With the help of the manufacturing method you can find the appropriate machine.
Installation costs	Additional installation costs prior to commissioning.
Maintenance (%)	Overhead cost factor to cover machine and tool maintenance including material costs input.
Specifies, how often the part is positioned.	Describes the machine group.
Residual Value in %	Residual value of the machine at the end of the depreciation period.
Technical Performance Parameters	Depending on the specific machine, performance parameters are provided, such as clamping force, clamping surface, etc.
Technical Availability	Percentage value for determining the costs of machine servicing and maintenance. Availability corresponds to maximum production capacity.

Basic Materials Category

The basic materials category includes prices and densities of iron, NF metals and plastics. These prices are determined based on the global market prices for the raw materials traded on stock exchanges and are computed and updated by combining the alloys (for metals) and/or price indexes (for plastics). The calculations performed take manufacturing processes into consideration (e.g. scrap ratios in steel production). For metals, the price refers to the material price following slab production. For plastics, the price refers to the trading price as granulate, grist or bale goods.

Calculated values of the Chipping cost model:	Description
Material Classification	Materials are classified by manufacturing method and is used to group and search materials.
Density	Is a property of the material specified in mass per volume that you need to calculate cost models.
Shape Type	Each semifinished part has a certain shape. FACTON displays this with the shape type.
Price per Unit	Specification of material costs in price per mass.

Overhead rates category

The FACTON content overhead cost rates contain over 500,000 Benchmark data.

The table below details the information included in the individual overhead rates.

Overhead Rate	Information Included
Material Overhead Cost	Purchasing Scheduling (incl. accounting) Acceptance/receiving (incl. QA in receiving and accounting) Receiving storage location (warehouse costs, internal transport) Other (e.g. interns, trainees)
Manufacturing Overhead Cost	Factory management (market monitoring, strategy development, management) Production (coordination, employee leadership) Manufacturing (plant development, new acquisitions, optimization) Quality (data preparation, inspection and planning) Process planning (planning, cost accounting, optimization) Other (e.g. trainees, internal transport between systems)
Sales Overhead Cost	Sales/back office (customer care, customer management) Sales/field service (new customers, new orders, follow-up orders) Marketing (market monitoring, advertising, leadership concepts) Public relations (information, communication) Other sales (e.g. commissions, exhibitions, trade fairs)
Administration Overheads	IT (system availability, security, performance) Human resources (administration, transfer, coordination) Business executives (management) General administration (accounting, controlling, financial statements) Miscellaneous Administration (special functions) Remaining administration (all costs may be incurred that can be directly allocated to the employee alongside personnel and material costs)
Development Overheads	Basic research (research, university partnerships) Product development (advances and new developments, design engineering) Technical customer support (customization) Other development (external services)
Logistics Overheads	Finished goods storage (warehouse, packaging, interest, finished products) Shipping (packaging) External storage area (setup, systems, tools) Order picking (staging, QA, administration) Other logistics (special costs, own delivery vehicles)
Maintenance overhead costs	Machine Plants Tools

All of these areas and functions are assigned personnel costs, employer personnel surcharge costs and material costs and their percentages are calculated based on sales volume. The following cost categories are allocated to material costs: vehicle fleet, services, rights, licenses, materials, setup, depreciation costs, energy costs.