Amortization and merging

A €1,200 blender does not cost €1,200 the day you buy it. It costs a little on every batch, for years. Amortization is how BatchDash spreads that price, so batch costs include the machines and a “profitable” product does not quietly ignore its hardware.

Two methods

Pick the method on the equipment record (Edit, then Amortization):

Per use (by output) spreads the cost over what the tool produces. Set the Expected lifetime output and its unit: a blender good for 20 000 L works out to €1,200 / 20 000 L = €0.06 per liter. A batch that blends 40 L carries €2.40 of blender.

Over time (depreciation) spreads the cost straight-line over a Useful life (months). The same blender over 60 months costs €20 a month, whatever you produce.

A rule of thumb: pick per-use when wear tracks production and you want a quiet month to cost nothing. Pick over-time for tools that age whether or not they run (fridges, dehumidifiers).

Reading the summary

The Amortization section aggregates across the units you own: Invested (the sum of acquisition costs), the cost per unit of output or the Per month and Per year rates, Depreciated so far, and Book value (what is left). A “partial” tag warns that some units are missing a cost or a date; fill those in on the units to complete the figures.

Where the share lands

Recipes name their equipment on process steps (Phases, steps and checkpoints). The tool’s amortized share then folds into what a batch costs, next to ingredients and packaging; the cost breakdown shows where each euro sits. Equipment with the method set to None is tracked without adding anything to cost.

Merging duplicates

Two records for the same machine happen: “Blender” and “30L blender”, one of them created on the fly from an order line. Open the redundant record and, under More actions, choose Merge into another…. Merging moves its recipes, units, and purchase options onto the target, then deletes the source. It cannot be undone, so read the dialog once before clicking Merge.