Abstract
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)
With the current global political and economic environments, there is a lot of economic fluctuation and uncertainty in the world markets. This results in the instability of prices for goods and other products. And since we operate in a globalised era, this has a direct impact on the life cycle costs of many systems and products.
Experience has indicated that a large portion of the total cost of many systems is as a direct result of activities associated with the operation and support of these systems and products, while the commitment of these costs is based on decisions made in the early stages of the system life cycle (Blanchard, 1990:505 & Blanchard, 2004:24-26).
Further, the various costs associated with the different phases of the life cycle of a system or a piece of equipment are interrelated. Thus, in addressing the economic aspects of a system, one must look at the total cost in the context of the overall life cycle, particularly during the early stages of conceptual design and advanced system planning. Life cycle cost, when included as a parameter in the systems engineering process, provides the opportunity to design for economic feasibility. To address these aspects the following questions are answered through the research:
What are life cycle costs and what are the benefits of costing them?
When and where are costs incurred in a systems life cycle?
What are the key variables in establishing life cycle costs?
How can these variables be better defined to ensure that the life cycle costs are sustained through the entire life of a system?
Can the engineering inflation be defined and be used instead of the general inflation rate?
Now the challenge is that with the fluctuating economic conditions mentioned earlier, one cannot predict the life cycle costs of a system as closely accurate as is required. The proposed research focused on identifying sustainable measures to ensure that life cycle costs remain relevant through the lifespan of a system or equipment.