Equipment: ERA wants more transparency on cost

The European Rental Association (ERA) is launching a tool for the calculation of the Total Cost of Ownership of equipment, able to offer more transparency in terms of cost over the lifecycle of equipment.

The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator, a new tool proposed by the European Rental Association, is now available in French. The tool is transparent by re-establishing a "true model" for calculating total cost of ownership, with all direct and indirect costs clearly visible on a simplified interface. One of the options offered by TCO is to offer a completely neutral view of the purchase versus lease analysis, enabling decision makers to make decisions.

The calculator, developed in collaboration with the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, is the first of its kind. It provides a financial calculation designed to help equipment managers better assess their real cost by determining the total economic value of the investment. The calculator is available on a website and in mobile version on Android and Apple applications, for easy remote access.

"In collaboration with a team from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, we seek to get a comprehensive and objective analysis of the Total Cost of Possession of materials. This completely new tool is powered by a computational models more sophisticated and can be applied to most compact and heavier materials. This is a big step in the right direction for our industry," says Michel Petitjean, secretary general of the ERA.

The calculator is available at http://equipmentcalculator.org.