摘要:

This paper presents the results of a mail survey of the capital investment practices of the U.S.-based companies in theStandard & Poor's Industrial Index. Unlike earlier studies, which focus on the use of project evaluation and risk analysis tools, this study considers the entire investment decision-making process, from strategic analysis through post-auditing operating performance. Analysis of the responses suggests that most responding companies use a fairly sophisticated capital investment process. They make strategic analysis a cornerstone of their capital investment process, develop quantitative minimum required rate of return and maximum acceptable risk goals, forecast investment returns on a cash basis, use discounted cash flow evaluation measures, control the implementation process, and conduct post-audits of operating performance regularly. The respondents appear less sophisticated in their treatment of risk. Only half use quantitative risk analysis and risk-adjustment techniques.

ISSN:0013-791X    

DOI:10.1080/00137919908967513

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1999

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Decisions concerning maintenance strategies have become increasingly important as managers face more complex systems in the manufacturing, construction and process industries. The choice among maintenance methods, reactive, preventive or predictive, is often complicated by uncertainty about component failure, reliability of the predictive sensor readings, and the potential for significant financial exposure. This paper describes a decision-science methodology for evaluating alternative maintenance strategies. We use avalue of informationframework to analyze the maintenance decision in the context of the choice alternatives maintenance managers face, the key sources of uncertainty associated with component failure and sensor readings, and the associated maintenance and repair costs. This work presents an application of the decision model to a gantry crane system used at a hazardous waste retrieval site. This methodology can guide managers toward a more formal evaluation of maintenance methods, give insight into the analysis of competing choice alternatives, and significantly improve the quality of maintenance decisions. The technique described and the application discussed give the engineering economist a more robust approach to analyzing the complex issues associated with this class of decision problem.

ISSN:0013-791X    

DOI:10.1080/00137919908967514

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1999

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

To affect the actual project selection process of a corporate research lab, the project selection process needs to be simple and transparent enough to ensure effective communication among project leaders, research implementers and technology strategists. In this way, the project selection process stimulates project creation. If net present value (NPV) is our project criterion, this requires simplified NPV formulas. In this paper, we develop such formulas in the context of a major application.

ISSN:0013-791X    

DOI:10.1080/00137919908967515

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1999

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Total product quality is multidimensional and includes customer acceptance as well as the usual quantitative elements for conformance, performance and reliability. Also included are broad ranges of operational expectations that are specific to the particular product. Thus to assess overall quality requires analysis of a multi-attribute vector of quality measures, some of which are subjective but cannot be ignored in making quality-related decisions. Warranty costs reflect the overall effect of these elements and can serve as an overall measure for making economic decisions. In this paper, we will summarize warranty cost models and describe two warranty planning problems that are important in engineering economic decision making.

ISSN:0013-791X    

DOI:10.1080/00137919908967516

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1999

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

In a recent paper, Jones and Zydiak [2] discuss the steady state fleet design problem, which has no natural initial distribution of vehicles. For this problem, they develop a new optimality criterion of minimizing annual equivalent cost per vehicle because the traditional optimally criterion of minimizing annual equivalent cost can lead to paradoxical results, as shown by example, when applied to the fleet design problem. In a subsequent note, Hartman [1] argues that this paradox is actually a result of a replacement convention that ignores opportunity costs. In this response, we demonstrate that paradoxical replacement behavior can occur with the traditional criterion even when opportunity costs are accounted for in the replacement analysis. We further conclude that the problems considered respectively by Jones and Zydiak [2] and Hartman [1] are fundamentally different in nature.

ISSN:0013-791X    

DOI:10.1080/00137919908967517

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1999

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Engineering economics courses and textbooks have typically acknowledged the existence of the role of risk in economic decision making, but often in a peripheral way. The approach has been to suggest the existence of risk and uncertainty in engineering decisions, and to quantify that risk. The world of financial decision making includes many more powerful tools and techniques for risk management, rather than just risk measurement. The techniques of risk management include diversification, hedging, insuring, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), futures contracts, options, and other investments. These portfolio tools are useful to engineering decision making, and the engineering economics community would be well served to include these topics in engineering economics undergraduate education.

ISSN:0013-791X    

DOI:10.1080/00137919908967518

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1999

数据来源: Taylor

ISSN:0013-791X    

DOI:10.1080/00137919908967519

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1999

数据来源: Taylor

ISSN:0013-791X    

DOI:10.1080/00137919908967520

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1999

数据来源: Taylor