成本 (chéng běn): cost

In order to reduce production costs, this factory introduced new automated equipment, but the initial investment increased quite a bit.

If you renovate the house yourself, although you can save on labor costs, you will have to spend a lot of time and energy.

The time cost of this trip was too high; just the round trip on the road took three days.

Due to the rise in raw material prices, the manufacturing cost of this mobile phone has increased by 15% compared to last year.

The company decided to lay off employees to reduce labor costs, but this may affect employee morale.