ECO.1:5.3 - A useful marginal value inside a model

A workshop has ten usable machine-hours and demand for up to twelve identical one-hour jobs. Each completed job contributes €30 after the other relevant variable costs; the remaining inputs and commitments permit any of these jobs. The model’s best contribution rises from €300 at ten hours to €330 at eleven and €360 at twelve. A thirteenth hour adds nothing under that demand limit.

Thus €30 is the modeled value of each of the next two usable hours. It helps set the terms worth considering: an available matching offer at €20 per hour would leave €10 more per added job. The modeled value itself does not supply that offer or make another operator available. A changed demand limit, job mix or needed complement requires a new calculation of the affected margin. The workshop can keep the conditional comparison without investigating every possible capacity supplier.