POST 01073E : REFRIGERATOR/FREEZERS PURCHASE AND OPERATING COSTS

POST 01073E : REFRIGERATOR/FREEZERS PURCHASE AND OPERATING COSTS Follow-up on Post 01063E (http://listes.ulaval.ca/cgi-bin/wa?A2=i ... .org&P=351) 2 April 2007 ____________________________________ This posting contains two contributions. The first is from Carib nelson (mailto:[email protected]) from PATH in the USA. He replies to Emmanuel Taylor. The second contribution comes from Ogwang Geoffrey (mailto:[email protected]) or (mailto:[email protected]) from UNICEF. ____________________________________ In response to the March 9th Posing 01063 where Emmanuel Taylor asked for more information about reports that ILRs are freezing vaccines, I can share some experiences from PATH cold chain monitoring studies: In a baseline study in Indonesia in 2001-2 (published: Bull of WHO. February 2004, 82 2) we found that 12 out of 30 (40%) of the HB vaccine shipments that were stored in district level ice-lined refrigerators were exposed to temperatures below 0°C. In a Bolivia monitoring study in 2005 (published: Vaccine 25 (2007) 433-437), we found at 6 out of 6 DPT-HB-Hib shipments stored in district-level ILRs were exposed to freezing. I believe many people can share stories of ILRs they've seen with temperatures in the freezing range. However, Indonesia has made significant improvements in eliminating freezing in ILRs. They introduced a simple new operating procedure whereby the ILR thermostats are set at a lower power setting. This results in the ice-lining being an ice-water mix, or even just a cold water lining, and thus reduces potential hold over time, but they found that the cool water provided more than sufficient hold over for the duration of power outages encountered in Indonesian district health offices. This practice has virtually eliminated freezing in the ILRs. It was a simple retraining procedure to introduce this policy. The training poster (http://www.technet21.org/pdf_file/Poster_ILR.pdf) here was translated into Indonesian and used to remind vaccinators of the basic steps to prevent freezing in ILRs. Carib Nelson Team Leader, Technology Solutions PATH ------------------------- Purchase and operating costs are part of the cost elements in the total life cycle cost of equipment. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is one of the key areas of concern in the procurement of equipments. LCC means that decisions on what to buy are based on costs to buy and costs to own an asset over its economical life. Total life cycle cost of equipment mainly includes: • Acquisition/cost price of equipment which includes administrative cost of processing orders & delivery cost • Installation & commissioning • Operating cost which includes maintenance cost, energy consumption • Disposal cost If we are focusing on acquisition and operating cost, I suggest that we compare with equipment of same capacity. The comparison can still be extended to installation/commissioning and disposal. Indicators based on practical data should be sought to guide the comparison. This comparison will give us the idea of how acquisition, installation, operating and disposal cost vary between equipment from different manufactures but yet having same storage/freezing capacity. In the comparison, for example, one can say ‘acquisition cost of Electrolux freezer is higher than that of vest frost of the same capacity’…… However, it’s very important to look at all the costs involved in owning equipment in the overall economic life of the equipment. I further suggest that after the comparison of the individual cost element, one can then finally sum all the costs estimates (acquisition, installation/commissioning, operating & disposal) to come up with the total life cycle cost of particular equipment. The comparison of the total life cycle costing is far best because it tells us how much one would spend over the rest of the economic life of the equipment. Idea to look at the total cost involved in owning equipment/technology is also very useful in the choice of the energy source for cold chain equipment, e.g. use of generator, solar, gas, kerosene. In real life engineering, the cost of acquiring/purchasing equipment may appear to be lower than the other but the eventual operating and disposal costs could be disappointingly high. It should be noted that, issues of equipment design to offer reliability and dependability is equally very important in the choice. Ogwang Geoffrey Mechanical Engineer, Student of Master of Science in Procurement & Supply Chain Mgt, Associate member (Professional level) of The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply-UK, with hands on experiences in Vaccines Cold Chain management in Mass Immunization Campaigns with UNICEF. ______________________________________________________________________________ All members of the TechNet21 e-Forum are invited to send comments on any posting or to use the forum to raise a new discussion or request technical information in relation to immunization services. 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