AbstractThis paper reports on the specification of a tomato processing plant cost-function using the Schruben-Cogliano (S-C) experimental procedure for response surface identification. The method is applied to a simulation model of a tomato processing plant in order to generate a cost-function metamodel that can be used to derive conditional factor-demand equations. The results suggest that the S-C methodology provides a means of deriving conditional factor-demand equations which reduces cost-function specification error.