Expression Based Costs

Internal Table Name: ExpressionBasedCosts

Name

Technology: NO

Table: ExpressionBasedCosts

Internal Name: CostName

Type: Short Text (100)

This field is the name of the expression based cost.

Expression

Technology: NO

Table: ExpressionBasedCosts

Internal Name: ExpressionName

Type: Short Text (100)

Enter the name of the expression to which the cost applies.

Fixed Cost

Technology: NO

Table: ExpressionBasedCosts

Internal Name: FixedCostComponent

Type: Short Text (255)

Enter the fixed cost to be applied to the expression. You can define the cost as a single value, or specify a step cost. For example, create a Step Cost Definition such as the following:

And create the associated Step Cost records:

When this step cost is defined, if the constraint value is 600, the Fixed Cost will be 40000. The Fixed Cost Component is evaluated as "greater than or equal to". So in this case, any throughput greater than (or equal to) 250 up to 1000 can incur 40000 in fixed costs. Each step includes the “boundary” values. The first step can apply to the values of 0 and 250, and the second step can apply to the values of 250 and 1000.

Variable Cost

Technology: NO

Table: ExpressionBasedCosts

Internal Name: VariableCostComponent

Type: Short Text (255)

Enter the cost to be applied to the Quantity, Weight or Volume as defined by the Expression. You can define the cost as a single value, or specify a step cost. The cost will be calculated based on the Variable Cost Type you select. create a step cost definition. For example, create a Step Cost Definition such as the following:

And create the associated Step Cost records:

The Variable Cost Component is evaluated as "greater than or equal to". So in this case, every unit greater than or equal to 250 and less than or equal to 1000 can incur a $4 cost. Each step includes the “boundary” values. The first step can apply to the values of 0 and 250, and the second step can apply to the values of 250 and 1000.

When you define a single step cost, such as <500,6>, this is treated as a linear cost - all units are applied a cost of 6.

When you define step costs where the lowest capacity is greater than 0, such as <250,7><500,6>, Network Optimization assumes a lowest capacity of 0 when evaluating costs. You will receive a warning regarding this step cost when you run Network Optimization.

Variable Cost Type

Technology: NO

Table: ExpressionBasedCosts

Internal Name: VariableCostType

Type: Short Text (100)

One of Linear, Incremental, All Item.

Select one of:

• Linear – A single variable cost is applied for all Quantity, Weight or Volume as defined by the Expression. You must enter a single value for the Variable Cost Component when using Linear as the Variable Cost Type. The <Quantity,Cost> format is not supported for this cost type.
• Incremental – Piecewise costs will be calculated based on break points. For example, assume you have set up the Variable Cost Component as:

  Name	Minimum Quantity	Cost
  ExpVarCost	0	1.5
  ExpVarCost	5000	1.25
  ExpVarCost	10000	1.0

for a Flow Constraint and the flow is 20,000 units for the referenced expression. The total cost will be:

(5,000 - 0)*1.50 + (10,000 - 5,000)*1.25 + (20,000 - 10,000)*1.00 = 23,750

• All Item – The cost will be based on the break in which the total occurs. Given the same step cost example from above, for a Flow Constraint and a flow of 20,000 units, the total cost will be:

20,000 * 1.0 = 20,000

Organization

Technology: NO

Table: ExpressionBasedCosts

Internal Name: OrganizationName

Type: Short Text (255)

Select the organization to which the expression based cost is assigned.

Status

Technology: NO

Table: ExpressionBasedCosts

Internal Name: ExpressionCostStatus

Type: Short Text (25)

One of Include, Exclude.

Select one of:

• Include – to include the expression based cost during optimization.
• Exclude – to exclude the expression based cost during optimization.

Default: Include