installed, provided the staff have the requisite skills to operate and maintain such machines Areas in which automation is becoming more and more essential are those of raw vegetable preparation, and dry material sorting and selection. Electronic equipment is rapidly providing the answer to many these problems, and a realistic capital plant investment policy must be adopted by the dehydrator to ensure he keeps abreast of all this development BY-PRODUCTS AND THEIR OUTLETS It is inevitable that there will be some quantity of downgraded product and by-products arising from the plant in the course of a season, and it is important to find satisfactory outlets for these at an economic price Some dried vegetables, which are downgraded for reasons of colour, texture or general substandard appearance, usually find ready acceptance in owder form, as this tends to present a more homogeneous product. A Turbo mill is, therefore, a necessary adjunct to the drying plant, for the purpose of dealing with such material. Reject materials from sorting machines and selection belts usually finds outlets in compounding mills for animal foods Wet vegetable waste should also be disposed of to the best advantage, and this can be converted to animal food if it can be dried cheaply by any waste heat from the plant. A resourceful plant engineer should be able to solve this problem without any great expense on plant or operating cost. By-products and substandard material must at all times be taken into ne initial stock at low cost- any writing down of the value being done immediately quality control has designated the product as under pecification. The carrying forward of such stocks che end of an accounting period, perhaps arising months later, can create severe financial embarrassment when the ultimate stock evaluation comes to be made. Salvage operations are always expensive, therefore it is important to have ready outlets at hand and to dispose of substandard material as it is discovered COSTING basic factory cost for each product. The standard cost system is undoubted A comprehensive weekly costing system should be established to arrive at best for the dehydrator, and on the evaluated factory cost, the selling cost can be calculated, and the ability to maintain the factory standard cost will be a measure of the plants efficiency. Any profit or loss against standard is brought forward into a reconciliation account and balances set against the company's annual financial accountsinstalled, provided the staff have the requisite skills to operate and maintain such machines. Areas in which automation is becoming more and more essential are those of raw vegetable preparation, and dry material sorting and selection. Electronic equipment is rapidly providing the answer to many of these problems, and a realistic capital plant investment policy must be adopted by the dehydrator to ensure he keeps abreast of all this development. BY-PRODUCTS AND THEIR OUTLETS It is inevitable that there will be some quantity of downgraded product and by-products arising from the plant in the course of a season, and it is important to find satisfactory outlets for these at an economic price. Some dried vegetables, which are downgraded for reasons of colour, texture or general substandard appearance, usually find ready acceptance in powder form, as this tends to present a more homogeneous product. A Turbo mill is, therefore, a necessary adjunct to the drying plant, for the purpose of dealing with such material. Reject materials from sorting machines and selection belts usually finds outlets in compounding mills for animal foods. Wet vegetable waste should also be disposed of to the best advantage, and this can be converted to animal food if it can be dried cheaply by any waste heat from the plant. A resourceful plant engineer should be able to solve this problem without any great expense on plant or operating cost. By-products and substandard material must at all times be taken into the initial stock at low cost - any writing down of the value being done immediately quality control has designated the product as ’under￾specification’. The carrying forward of such stocks at full standard cost until the end of an accounting period, perhaps arising months later, can create severe financial embarrassment when the ultimate stock evaluation comes to be made. Salvage operations are always expensive, therefore it is important to have ready outlets at hand and to dispose of substandard material as it is discovered. COSTING A comprehensive weekly costing system should be established to arrive at a basic factory cost for each product. The standard cost system is undoubtedly best for the dehydrator, and, on the evaluated factory cost, the selling cost can be calculated, and the ability to maintain the factory standard cost will be a measure of the plant’s efficiency. Any profit or loss against standard is brought forward into a reconciliation account and balances set against the company’s annual financial accounts. 255