Cost Analysis for Engineers and Scientists


Book Description

This book helps apply managerial accounting techniques to problems in areas including that of cost estimation, cost control, product pricing, and business segment discontinuation. It is a valuable resource for short-term courses and seminars conducted to train professionals and practitioners in engineering and manufacturing cost analysis. Cost Analysis for Engineers and Scientists introduces the fundamentals accounting information systems and manufacturing costs. It also presents product costing and manufacturing cost allocation to individual as well as joint products. The concepts and applications of cost-volume-profit and breakeven analysis for single-product and multiple-products are also discussed. It is intended for engineers, managers, and scientists to apply cost analysis techniques for assessing engineering and financial projects. A solutions manual and PowerPoint slides are available for qualified textbook adoption.




Value Engineering


Book Description

This invaluable reference teaches effective and practical techniques to improve the overall performance and outcome of design projects in various industries. Value Engineering highlights the application of value methodology to streamline current day operations, strategic planning in company or business segments, and everyday business decisions in the private sector. The book shows how to maximize budgets, reduce life cycle costs, improve project understanding, and create better working relationships. It explains how to gather information for the creation, evaluation, development, and presentation of new project ideas and shows how to design an appropriate task agenda and timeline.




Cost Engineering Analysis


Book Description

A revision of the very successful first edition with all chapters thoroughly reviewed and updated. Presents a means of rapid, inexpensive financial comparison among a group of projects as well as the more mathematically sophisticated, popular, but not necessarily accurate methods. The chapter on depreciation has been rewritten to reflect new tax laws. Discusses the impact of interest rates and income tax considerations on project evaluation. Includes expanded use of small computers with practical BASIC programs for computing depreciation, cash flow, present value, and more.




Basic Cost Engineering, Third Edition


Book Description

This work focuses on the application of fundamental cost engineering principles to the capital and operating costs estimation of major projects. It provides detailed coverage of profitability, risk, and sensitivity analysis. This third edition: discusses novel strategies for calculating preliminary estimates using MasterFormat; presents new information on estimating the retrofitting and extension of existing plants; contains current international cost data; and more.;A solutions manual is available to instructors only.




Cost Engineering


Book Description

In today’s hyper-competitive, global marketplace, a manufacturing company needs a competitive edge if it is to survive and grow. That edge could be anything from superior manufacturing technology to innovative product design; from patent protection to solid, well-established customer relationships. One competitive edge available to all manufacturers, but realized by only a few, is the ability to accurately measure, control, and optimize costs throughout a product’s entire life cycle. The lack of a methodology to engineer cost optimization into every product makes attaining and maintaining profitability all that the more difficult. Cost Engineering provides a means for a manufacturer to achieve and sustain profitability by designing and manufacturing products to specific cost requirements. It incorporates a variety of proven methodologies including cost estimating, cost control, and cost optimization. Features: Describes the components and organization of an effective cost optimization process Provides detailed explanations of cost estimating techniques for many of the most common manufacturing processes Explains the selection and use of appropriate cost allocation methods Presents the fundamentals of cost-based negotiation Includes both proper and improper executions of cost engineering principles The details presented in this book are important to design engineers, manufacturing engineers, buyers, accountants, cost estimators, cost optimization specialists, and their managers and provides CEOs, COOs, general managers, product line managers, and plant managers with guidance on improving and sustaining profitability. .




Construction Cost Analysis and Estimating


Book Description

This work provides principles & techniques for the evaluation of construction design, emphasizing the importance of strong analysis skills & exploring estimation. It aims to provide readers with a balanced & cohesive overview of these two areas.




Marine Engineering Economics and Cost Analysis


Book Description

Marine Engineering Economics and Cost Analysis is intended for students and practitioners of ship design, shipbuilding, and ship operations who want to understand and apply the concepts of engineering economics to routine engineering decisions. Computer software is included to aid in completing the analyses required. "To my knowledge this is the first text published during my fifty-year career...that deals with the methods of economic evaluation of maritime decision alternatives from an engineering viewpoint....This book applies engineering economics and cost analysis to the maritime industry and sets forth in a logical sequence the method to reach the most efficient vessel from both a cost and capacity-required approach."--from the foreword by Captain Warren G. Leback, former maritime administrator.




Systems Life Cycle Costing


Book Description

Although technology and productivity has changed much of engineering, many topics are still taught in very similarly to how they were taught in the 70s. Using a new approach to engineering economics, Systems Life Cycle Costing: Economic Analysis, Estimation, and Management presents the material that a modern engineer must understand to work as a practicing engineer conducting economic analysis. Organized around a product development process that provides a framework for the material, the book presents techniques such as engineering economics and simulation-based costing (SBC), with a focus on total life cycle understanding and perspective and introduces techniques for detailed analysis of modern complex systems. The author includes rules of thumb for estimation grouped with the methods, processes, and tools (MPTs) for conducting a detailed engineering buildup for costing. He presents the estimating costing of complex systems and software and then explores concepts such as design to cost (DTC), cost as an independent variable (CAIV), the role of commercial off-the-shelf technology, cost of quality, and the role of project management in LCC management. No product or services are immune from cost, performance, schedule, quality, risks, and tradeoffs. Yet engineers spend most of their formal education focused on performance and most of their professional careers worrying about resources and schedule. Too often, the design stage becomes about the technical performance without considering the downstream costs that contribute to the tota1 life cycle costs (LCC) of a system. This text presents the methods, processes, and tools needed for the economic analysis, estimation, and management that bring these costs in line with the goals of pleasing the customer and staying within budget.




Construction Cost Engineering Handbook


Book Description

Covering the life of a construction project from inception to completion, this useful reference explains basic and advanced aspects of engineering economics, cost estimating, cost control, cost forecasting, planning, and scheduling. It serves both as a comprehensive introduction to cost engineering and as a practical, on-the-job guide for any construction project where the object is economy. Construction Cost Engineering Handbook describes the responsibilities of each member of the construction team and defines their relationship to project control ... analyzes project economics before, during, and after a project's finish ... examines various types and methods of estimating ... distinguishes between cost reporting and cost forecasting, with valuable cost and scheduling integration examples ... considers planning and scheduling procedures such as the bar chart and sophisticated contemporary techniques ... highlights ways of avoiding common mistakes through data development ... and furnishes computer samples for estimating, cost control, cost forecasting, and scheduling. Illustrated with more than 180 excellent diagrams and drawings, and featuring convenient appendixes on foreign and remote projects, code of accounts and work breakdown structure, and typical project activities, Construction Cost Engineering Handbook is an indispensable reference for civil, cost, project, plant, design, construction, and industrial engineers and managers as well as architects, building contractors, and financial controllers involved with construction projects. Book jacket.




Systems Cost Engineering


Book Description

Parametric cost estimating models are flexible tools which bring engineering, scientific and mathematical rigour to cost and schedule estimating, but great tools alone will not keep programs affordable. Tools must be applied as part of a credible process if estimates and analyses are to be accepted. Complex major projects involving engineering, hardware, software, service and IT, all suffer from two basic problems: the project sponsors often struggle to specify the project effectively, and project managers find themselves wrestling with unpredicted cost or schedule overruns. Everyone wants to be successful with the tools and solutions they use, so this book is a comprehensive collection of methods with proven success. The applications described by Dale Shermon and his co-authors have evolved over 30 years of cost engineering experience during which time they have been matured by the parametric community. Each chapter explores a different application of parametrics, based on real-life case examples, providing you with a detailed guide to the rationale and value of cost engineering in a different industry or program context. Systems Cost Engineering will help cost engineers, project and program directors, and the champions that support them, to understand and apply parametrics to ensure that their programs: * offer a credible analysis of alternative cost options * are never initiated with insufficient funding because of inaccurate estimates of cost or quantification of risks * are never diverted from their objective because of a lack of credible cost management * share and communicate knowledge of realistic and dynamic cost and productivity metrics amongst the program team * are never derailed by surprise cost overruns or schedule delays The information in this book will give projects sponsors and bid managers confidence in the business case that they are developing and enable them to communicate a clear and transparent picture of the risks, opportunities and benefits to stakeholders and project owners.