"Hygienic design is expensive!" This sentence has often been used as an argument against purchasing equipment with improved hygienic design—but is letting the initial purchase price drive purchase decisions the right choice? Frequently, the rebuttal against the higher cost with some hygienic designs is that cost can be avoided. After all, the cost of a recall is estimated to be around €1.67 million (or about $1.8 million1), and recent recalls have been estimated to cost companies even more. In this article, the authors present a different way of looking at the cost of equipment. The total cost of ownership (TCO) should be considered when purchasing hygienically designed equipment. Methods for applying hygienic design to legacy equipment are also included.
It is common for equipment to be purchased as part of a project, so we will use a project framework to discuss the cost of hygienic design. First, the project team should begin by identifying criteria it expects to meet with the equipment. Examples of those criteria are: