The Objective of Chapter 9 Is To Address The Question of Whether A Currently Owned Asset Should Be Kept in Service or Immediately Replaced

The objective of Chapter 9 is to
address the question of whether a

currently owned asset should be
kept in service or immediately
replaced.
What to do with an existing asset?
• Keep it
• Abandon it (do not replace)
• Replace it, but keep it for backup purposes
• Augment the capacity of the asset
• Dispose of it, and replace it with another
Three reasons to consider a
change.
• Physical impairment (deterioration)
• Altered requirements
• New and improved technology is now
available.
The second and third reasons are sometimes
referred to as different categories of obsolescence.
Some important terms for
replacement analysis
• Economic life: the period of time (years) that
yields the minimum equivalent uniform annual
cost (EUAC) of owning and operating an asset.
• Ownership life: the period between acquisition and
disposal by a specific owner.
• Physical life: period between original acquisition
and final disposal over the entire life of an asset.
• Useful life: the time period an asset is kept in
productive service (primary or backup).
Replacement: past estimation errors
• Any study today is about the future—past

estimation “errors” related to the defender
are irrelevant.
• The only exception to the above is if there
are income tax implications forthcoming
that were not foreseen.
Replacement: sunk-cost trap
• Only present and future cash flows are
considered in replacement studies.
• Past decisions are relevant only to the extent
that they resulted in the current situation.
• Sunk costs—used here as the difference
between an asset’s BV and MV at a particular
point in time—have no relevance except to the
extent they affect income taxes.
Replacement: the outsider viewpoint
• The outsider viewpoint is the perspective taken by
an impartial third party to establish the fair MV of
the defender. Also called the opportunity cost
approach.
• The opportunity cost is the opportunity foregone
by deciding to keep an asset.
• If an upgrade of the defender is required to have a
competitive service level with the challenger, this
should be added to the present realizable MV.
Replacement: economic lives of the
challenger and defender
• The economic life of the challenger minimizes the
EUAC.
• The economic life of the defender is often one
year, so a proper analysis may be between
different-lived alternatives.
• The defender may be kept longer than it’s
apparent economic life as long as it’s marginal
cost is less than the minimum EUAC of the
challenger over it’s economic life.
Replacement: income taxes
• Replacement often results in gains or losses

from the sale of depreciable property.
• Studies must be made on an after-tax basis
for an accurate economic analysis since this
can have a considerable effect on the
resulting decision.
Before-tax PW example
Acme owns a CNC machine that it is considering
replacing. Its current market value is $25,000, but it can
be productively used for four more years at which time
its market value will be zero. Operating and maintenance
expenses are $50,000 per year
Acme can purchase a new CNC machine, with the same
functionality as the current machine, for $90,000. In four
years the market value of the new machine is estimated
to be $45,000. Annual operating and maintenance costs
will be $35,000 per year.
Should the old CNC machine be replaced using a before-
tax MARR of 15% and a study period of four years?
Example solution
Defender
Challenger
PW of the challenger is greater than PW of the defender

(but it is close).
Proper analysis requires knowing the
economic life (minimum EUAC) of the
alternatives.
• The EUAC of a new asset can be computed
if the capital investment, annual expenses,
and year-by-year market values are known
or can be estimated.
• The difficulties in estimating these values
are encountered in most engineering
economy studies, and can be overcome in
most cases.
Finding the EUAC of the challenger
requires finding the total marginal cost
of the challenger, for each year. The
minimum such value identifies the
economic life.
This equation represents the present worth, through year k,
of total costs. (Although the sign is positive, it is a cost.)
Total marginal cost formula
The total marginal cost is the equivalent worth, at the
end of year k, of the increase in PW of total cost from
year k-1 to year k.
This can be simplified to

Finding the economic life of the new
CNC machine.
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
O&M costs $35,000 $35,000 $35,000 $35,000
Market value $75,000 $60,000 $50,000 $45,000
Marginal costs:
O&M $35,000 $35,000 $35,000 $35,000
Depreciation $15,000 $15,000 $10,000 $5,000
Int. on capital $13,500 $11,250 $9,000 $7,500
TC $63,500 $61,250 $54,000 $47,500
The economic life of the defender
• If a major overhaul is needed, the life
yielding the minimum EUAC is likely the
time to the next major overhaul.
• If the MV is zero (and will be so later), and
operating expenses are expected to increase,
the economic life will be one year.
• The defender should be kept as long as its
marginal cost is less than the minimum
EUAC of the best challenger.
Finding the economic life of the defender
CNC machine.
O&M costs $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000
Market value $15,000 $10,000 $5,000 $0

O&M $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000
Depreciation $10,000 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000
Int. on capital $3,750 $2,250 $1,500 $750
TC $63,750 $57,250 $56,500 $55,750
Replacement cautions.
• In general, if a defender is kept beyond where the TC
exceeds the minimum EUAC for the challenger, the
replacement becomes more urgent.
• Rapidly changing technology, bringing about significant
improvement in performance, can lead to postponing
replacement decisions.
• When the defender and challenger have different useful
lives, often the analysis is really to determine if now is the
time to replace the defender.
• Repeatability or cotermination can be used where
appropriate.
Abandonment--retirement without
replacement
• For projects having positive net cash flows
(following an initial investment) and a finite
period of required service.
• Should the project be undertaken? If so, and
given market (abandonment) values for each year,
what is the best year to abandon the project?
What is its economic life?
• These are similar to determining the economic life
of an asset, but where benefits instead of costs
dominate.
• Abandon the year PW is a maximum.
Abandonment example
A machine lathe has a current market value of
$60,000 and can be kept in service for 4 more
years. With an MARR of 12%/year, when
should it be abandoned? The following data are
projected for future years.

Net receipts $50,000 $40,000 $15,000 $10,000
Market value $35,000 $20,000 $15,000 $5,000
Abandonment solution
Keep for one year
Keep for two years
Keep for three years (BEST!) Keep for four years

Taxes can affect replacement decisions.
• Most replacement analyses should consider

taxes.
• Taxes must be considered not only for each
year of operation of an asset, but also in
relation to the sale of an asset.
• Since depreciation amounts generally
change each year, spreadsheets are an
especially important tool to use.
The effect of taxes.
The economic life of an asset becomes, after taxes,
which reflects not only annual taxes but also tax

effects of the sale of the asset. The total marginal cost,
for each year, is
We must also consider the possible tax
effects of the sale of the defender.
The MV of the asset must be compared to the BV to
assess the possible tax implications, and this should be
reflected in the opportunity cost of keeping the
defender. The net ATCF, if the defender is kept, after
taxes, is

The Objective of Chapter 9 Is To Address The Question of Whether A Currently Owned Asset Should Be Kept in Service or Immediately Replaced

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Objective of Chapter 9 Is To Address The Question of Whether A Currently Owned Asset Should Be Kept in Service or Immediately Replaced

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Objective of Chapter 9 Is To Address The Question of Whether A Currently Owned Asset Should Be Kept in Service or Immediately Replaced

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The objective of Chapter 9 is to

address the question of whether a

• Any study today is about the future—past

• Replacement often results in gains or losses

PW of the challenger is greater than PW of the defender

This can be simplified to

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

Keep for two years

Keep for three years (BEST!) Keep for four years

• Most replacement analyses should consider

which reflects not only annual taxes but also tax

You might also like