Labor, electricity and overhead settings

Set the costs that apply across your whole workspace: overhead, electricity, labor tracking and the margin bands that flag a product. Every BOM estimate and production run uses them.

Set your cost settings

Go to Settings, then Costing.

1. Enter the Overhead percentage. It's added on top of materials, labor and electricity.
2. Enter your Electricity rate per kWh.
3. Turn on Track electricity cost to include electricity in production cost. Turn on Track labor cost by default so new BOMs start with labor tracking.
4. Choose the Margin cost basis: Last production actual or Current BOM estimate.
5. Set the Target margin, the Low margin threshold and the Cost change alert.
6. Click Save cost settings.

Kerno saves the settings and recomputes your current BOM estimates. With 10% overhead, a tin estimated at $3.04 became $3.35.

Add equipment for electricity

Electricity is worked out from the equipment a step uses.

1. Go to Settings, then Resources, and click Add resource.
2. Type the Name, such as Wax Melter.
3. Enter its Power in kilowatts. Leave it empty if the step records kWh directly.
4. Click Add resource.

The Resources page lists each one with its power and its cost per hour at your rate. On a BOM step, pick it under Resources / equipment. The step's electricity is the resource's power times the step's hours.

Labor

Labor is set per step in the BOM: turn on Track Labor Cost in Production Steps and enter each step's Labor rate per hour. A run's labor uses the step times you record. See Production steps, labor and packaging.

Good to know

• A product is Healthy at or above the target margin, Watch between the two and Low below the low margin threshold.
• The Cost change alert notifies admins when a material's price moves more than its percentage.
• Inactive resources are hidden when adding steps to a BOM.

Related articles

• How Kerno costs a product
• The reports, one by one