A Computer-Based Economic Analysis for Manufacturing Process Selection

Manocher Djassemi, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

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Paper 107, IT 302. 9 pages. Copyright © 2008 International Journal of Modern Engineering (IJME). This paper is also available online at http://ijme.us/cd_08/PDF/107%20IT%20302.pdf.

Abstract

An important part of financial planning in product development is considering whether the capital expenditures meet volume and cost goals. A good business plan should provide investors with the implications of process selection on the company's bottom line. It is estimated that there are least 1000 manufacturing processes and sub-processes. Considering the number of process choices and quantity of cost data, an economic analysis for process selection may pose a challenge for decision makers. This paper provides an insight to Ashby’s cost modeling method for generating an estimate of unit product cost. The cost model provides a broad indicator for competing processes for shaping a product at the early stage of product development. This model takes into account the cost of resources associated with manufacturing a component. Using the Cambridge Engineering Selector software the impact of various cost factors on process selection is investigated.