Full costing of overhead resources in terms of lab time, access to technical and academic support and billable time

Over the course of this project, various amounts of resources have been used that aren’t the actual components themselves. This includes things such as tools, lab occupation and relevant equipment, staff time, and our own time as well. Tools include soldering irons, drills and sanding equipment for the PCB, and computers for coding. The lab itself was used for a place to work on the mouse itself, while also using its more advanced tools such as the oscilloscope to make sure the PCB worked, as well as the actual machine that printed the PCB and the 3D printing lab to print our micomouse shell. Then there is personal and academic support time that was spent in the construction of this mouse. All these things have a cost, based on a time used basis. Over the course of the year so far, 96 hours have been spent in the lab dedicated to the micomouse. There are three main areas that need to be accounted for here, our cost, academic cost, and cost of running the lab and its equipment for this time. Student cost comes out to a total of £4,281.60 at minimum wage for three over 21s and one under. Lab technicians are priceless but at minimum wage for two of them it comes out to £2,304. This brings to a total of £6585.60, not including lab costs.

By James Ellis