Labor

aPriori’s labor rates represent a fully-burdened labor rate that includes direct wages, directly paid benefits, and social overheads. For each process in each region, labor rates are determined using the following equation:

Fully Burdened Labor Rate =
Direct Wage * Direct Benefits Factor * Social Insurance Factor

• Direct Wage is determined for each process based on the region, skill level and sector. A direct wage is the pay to the employee for manufacturing time worked — basic wages, piece rate, bonus paid each pay period.

• region is the global location of the Regional Data Library

• skill level is assigned for each process based on the typical skill required for a machine operator to run the process in a non-automated manufacturing environment

Skill levels are assigned based on information from the BLS, Kerkhoff, general manufacturing knowledge and customer feedback

• sector is assigned by process group

Sector	Process Groups
Metal Industry	Assembly	Part Assembly
	Bar & Tube Fab	Rapid Prototyping
	Forging	Sheet Metal
	Heat Treatment	Stock Machining
	Machining	Surface Treatment
	Other Secondary Processes
Plastic Industry	Plastic Molding
	Roto & Blow Molding
	Sheet Plastic
Casting	Casting
Electrical Industry	Wire Harness, Printed Circuit Board Assembly

The primary source for Direct Wage data is Kerkhoff Consulting Group. Additional regional data sources are used for verification and corroboration of the data, including the BLS, Eurostats, national labor statistics bureaus and customer feedback.