Development of product life-cycle cost analysis tool

Abstract

The main purpose of this project was to develop a life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) tool which can be used by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) for the decision making process when comparing different alternatives of their products. The tool is expected to assist designers in making choices regarding the definition of product characteristics, integrating a series of analysis, calculation, and decision-making tools in the most appropriate manner in order to compare different alternatives of their product. LCCA appears to be a useful approach to a comprehensive assessment of economic, environmental and social impacts of the life cycle of a product and aids SMEs to meet environmental requirements adopted in nations around the world. The tool plays a primary role in this specific context due to the fact that not only production costs, but also those costs incurred during use and disposal are greatly conditioned by the initial design choices. Due to the differences exist in the cost structure of different products under evaluation, it is difficult to generalize the model; However, by making some modification to cost categories and by following the general LCCA framework developed, it is possible to match the model to any application desired. The model is simplified for usage in the form of ExcelTM in such away that the analyst can easily input data into tables and generate outputs using Excel Charts. The decision is made based on the alternative with lowest life cycle cost.