Economics of Advanced Manufacturing Systems

Economics of Advanced Manufacturing Systems
Author: Hamid R. Parsaei
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1461534801

The 1980s have witnessed a tremendous growth in the field of computer integrated manufacturing systems. The other major areas of development have been computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, industrial robotics, automated assembly, cellular and modular material handling, computer networking and office automation to name just a few. These new technologies are generally capital intensive and do not conform to traditional cost structures. The net result is a tremendous change in the way costs should be estimated and economic analyses performed. The majority of existing engineering economy texts still profess application of traditional analysis methods. But, as was men tioned above, it is clear that the basic trend in manufacturing industries is itself changing. So it is quite obvious that the practice of traditional economic analysis methods should change too. This book is an attempt to address the various issues associated with non-traditional methods for evaluation of advanced computer-integrated technologies. This volume consists of twenty refereed articles which are grouped into five parts. Part one, Economic Justification Methods, consists of six articles. In the first paper, Soni et at. present a new classification for economic justification methods for advanced automated manufacturing systems. In the second, Henghold and LeClair look at strengths and weaknesses of expert systems in general and more specifically, an ap plication aimed at investment justification in advanced technology. The third paper, by Carrasco and Lee, proposes an enhanced economic methodology to improve the needs analysis, conceptual design and de tailed design activities associated with technology modernization.

Economic Evaluation of Advance Technologies

Economic Evaluation of Advance Technologies
Author: Jerome P. Lavelle
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2001-12-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781560329152

This text illuminates the contemporary issues and technologies related to the economic evaluation and justification of advanced technologies. Included are modern tools, as well as application-based cases that demonstrate the use of these tools. Students, researchers and decision makers will benefit from this useful resource.

Economic and Financial Justification of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies

Economic and Financial Justification of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies
Author: Hamid R. Parsaei
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2013-10-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1483291359

Competence in investment analysis is now a basic requirement for most practicing managers, engineers, and financial analysts in order to avoid possible serious mistakes arising from flawed or inadequate knowledge of the discipline. Furthermore, individuals who make decisions based on technical economics stake their professional futures, in many cases, on the accuracy of such evaluations. The aim of this volume is to provide a balanced view of the essential components of economic and financial analysis including: 1. Strategic and design issues; 2. Principles of cost management systems and activity-based costing, and; 3. Tools for developing the financial measures of investment worth, with advanced topics and case studies in these three areas.This volume provides a refreshing insight into the various methods that engineers, managers, and financial analysts may need to consider to find good alternatives for the investment of scarce resources. Not only are new ventures presented, but also improvements within existing facilities that include process modification, product design, equipment replacement, and plant expansion/contraction.

Advanced Manufacturing

Advanced Manufacturing
Author: William B. Bonvillian
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2018-01-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0262037033

How to rethink innovation and revitalize America's declining manufacturing sector by encouraging advanced manufacturing, bringing innovative technologies into the production process. The United States lost almost one-third of its manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010. As higher-paying manufacturing jobs are replaced by lower-paying service jobs, income inequality has been approaching third world levels. In particular, between 1990 and 2013, the median income of men without high school diplomas fell by an astonishing 20% between 1990 and 2013, and that of men with high school diplomas or some college fell by a painful 13%. Innovation has been left largely to software and IT startups, and increasingly U.S. firms operate on a system of “innovate here/produce there,” leaving the manufacturing sector behind. In this book, William Bonvillian and Peter Singer explore how to rethink innovation and revitalize America's declining manufacturing sector. They argue that advanced manufacturing, which employs such innovative technologies as 3-D printing, advanced material, photonics, and robotics in the production process, is the key. Bonvillian and Singer discuss transformative new production paradigms that could drive up efficiency and drive down costs, describe the new processes and business models that must accompany them, and explore alternative funding methods for startups that must manufacture. They examine the varied attitudes of mainstream economics toward manufacturing, the post-Great Recession policy focus on advanced manufacturing, and lessons from the new advanced manufacturing institutes. They consider the problem of “startup scaleup,” possible new models for training workers, and the role of manufacturing in addressing “secular stagnation” in innovation, growth, the middle classes, productivity rates, and related investment. As recent political turmoil shows, the stakes could not be higher.

Selection and Evaluation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies

Selection and Evaluation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies
Author: Matthew J. Liberatore
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642956211

Matthew J. Liberatore Department of Management Villanova University Villanova, PA 19085 1. BACKGROUND The weakening competitive position of many segments of u.s. manufacturing has been analyzed, debated and discussed in corporate boardrooms, academic journals and the popular literature. One result has been a renewed commitment toward improving productivity and quality in the workplace. The drive to reduce manufacturing related costs, while meeting ever-changing customer needs, has led many firms to consider more automated and flexible manufacturing systems. The extent to which these new technologies can support business goals in productivity, quality and flexibility is an especially important issue for manufacturing firms in the u.s. and other Western nations. Problems have arisen in developing performance measures and evaluation criteria which reflect the full range of costs and benefits associated with these technologies. Some would argue that managerial policies and attitudes, and not the shortcomings of the equipment or manufacturing processes, are the major impediments to implementation (Kaplan 1984).

Supply Chain Cost Control Using Activity-Based Management

Supply Chain Cost Control Using Activity-Based Management
Author: Matthew Zander
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2006-07-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1420013661

Having an accurate assessment of company expenditures is a key to staying in business. Activity-based management (ABM) is the only system that offers the tools to correctly assess the outflow involved in a tightly knit supply chain and enables understanding not only of the total cost of ownership (TCO), but also how these costs should be allocated.

New Product Development

New Product Development
Author: Sameer Kumar
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2006-10-28
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0387232737

The challenge of managing a business enterprise today is to ensure that it can remain efficient and competitive in a dynamic marketplace characterized by high competition, unstable demands, heterogeneous market segments, and short product life cycles. Increasing the pace of new product introduction enables dealing with shorter product lives. To sustain competitiveness, a firm has to be innovative as well as quick to respond to the changing customer needs in order to provide better and faster products to market than competitors. New product development (NPD) is considered as a process of learning. Successful NPD projects typically rely on knowledge and experience of multi-function teams. In addition to corporate strategy and organization learning, the external factors such as, market and competitive conditions also play a big role in driving business strategies. The results from the empirical research study reported shows that companies implementing innovation strategy are more competitive in the long run while those that follow customer-responsive strategy are more likely to have higher return on investment within a shorter time. In order to achieve both sustainable competencies and also meet customer needs in the changing market environment today, a company should adapt to the benefits of both strategies.

Investment Decisions in Advanced Manufacturing Technology

Investment Decisions in Advanced Manufacturing Technology
Author: Magdy G. Abdel-Kader
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2018-12-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429826818

First published in 1998, this volume was designed to lead to an operational model of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) decision making which incorporated the mathematics of fuzzy set theory. The rapid advancement of robotics, automated technologies and software such as CAD and CAM have made such studies paramount. Here, analyses of a questionnaire survey and field study of major UK manufacturing companies together provide a simulating portrayal of AMT investment decision making and have been expanded upon with a model using fuzzy set theory.

Analysis and Design of Discrete Part Production Lines

Analysis and Design of Discrete Part Production Lines
Author: Chrissoleon T. Papadopoulos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2009-05-30
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0387894942

This book provides a complete overview of production systems and describes the best approaches to analyze their performance. Written by experts in the field, this work also presents numerous techniques that can be used to describe, model, and optimize the performance of various types of production lines. The book is intended for researchers, production managers, and graduate students in industrial, mechanical, and systems engineering.