CAPEX Concept
CAPEX is the acronym of the English expression Capital Expenditure and that designates the amount of money spent in the purchase (or improvements) of capital goods of a certain company. CAPEX is, thus, the amount of investments made in equipments and facilities as a way to maintain the production of a product or service or to keep running a business or a certain system. Opposed, OPEX refers to the associated cost of equipment maintenance and the spent consumables and other operational expenses necessary to production and maintenance of a running business or system. For example, the purchase of a machine is CAPEX, while the cost with its maintenance is OPEX. Many times, and for several reasons, the companies see the need to switch CAPEX for OPEX and vice verse. A way to reduce CAPEX for counterpart of OPEX is the resource to outsourcing and the rent of equipments and facilities. The most evident advantages of this exchange are the increase in costs flexibility and the reduction of funding needs (that now are more diluted in time). A disadvantage can be the costs increase.