Cost Modelling
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Cost Modelling
Cost models underlie all the techniques used in construction cost and price forecasting, yet until relatively recently industry has been unfamiliar with their characteristics and properties. An understanding of the various types of cost model is vital to enable effective cost control and the development of future forecasting techniques. This volume brings together more than 20 seminal contributions to building cost modelling and introduces the major landmarks in progress and thinking in this field: * strategies and directions * explorations in cost modelling * cost-product/process modelling * dealing with uncertainty The strong techniques bias of this book will appeal to construction professionals involved in estimating, as well as researchers and students of building economics.
Better Business Decisions Using Cost Modeling
Author: Victor E. Sower
language: en
Publisher: Business Expert Press
Release Date: 2011-09-23
: Information is power in supply chain operations, negotiations, continuous improvement programs, and process improvement, and indeed in all aspects of managing an operation. Accurate and timely information can result in better decisions that translate into improvement of bottom line results. The development and effective use of cost modeling as a method to understand the cost of products, services, and processes can help drive improvements in the quality and timeliness of decision making. In the supply chain community an understanding of the actual cost structures of products and services, whether with new or non-partner suppliers, can facilitate fact-based discussions which are more likely to result in agreements that are competitively priced and with fair margins. Further, accurate cost models which are cooperatively developed between supply chain partners can form the basis for joint efforts to reduce non-value-added costs and provide additional focus towards operational improvement. While many organizations feel confident they have an understanding of the cost structure for products and services produced internally, cost modeling often uncovers areas where significant cost improvement can be obtained. Cost of quality is a particular type of internal cost model that analyzes the true costs associated with the production of less than perfect products and services. The development of a cost of quality model can provide insight into how products or services of higher quality can be produced at lower cost. This book provides the business student or professional a concise guide to the creation and effective use of both internal and external cost models. Development of internal cost models is discussed with illustrations showing how they can be deployed to assist in new product development, pricing decisions, make-or-buy decisions and the identification of opportunities for internal process improvement projects. The creation and use of external cost models are discussed providing insight into how their use can drive collaborative improvement efforts among supply chain partners, better prepare for price negotiations, and keep negotiations focused on facts rather than emotions--all while allowing for future discussions with preferred suppliers to focus on more strategic and operational improvement initiatives, and less on pricing. A number of detailed cost model examples are provided to educate on both how cost models are constructed, and to demonstrate how they have been effectively deployed
Knowledge-based Cost Modelling for Innovative Design
The contribution to new knowledge from this research is a novel method for modelling production costs throughout the design phase of a product's lifecycle, from conceptual to detail design. The provision of cost data throughout the design phase allows management to make more accurate bid estimates and encourages designers to design to cost, leading to a reduction in the amount of design rework and product's time to market. The cost modelling strategy adopted incorporates the use of knowledge-based and case-based approaches. Cost estimation is automated by linking design knowledge, required for predicting design features from incomplete design descriptions, to production knowledge. The link between the different paradigms is achieved through the blackboard framework of problem solving which incorporates both case-baseda nd rule-based reasoning. The method described is aimed at innovative design activities in which original designs are produced which are similar to some extent to past design solutions. The method is validated through a prototyping approach. Tests conducted on the prototype confirm that the designed method models costs sufficiently accurately within the range of its own knowledge base. It can therefore be inferred that the designed cost modelling methodology sets out a feasible approach to cost estimation throughout the design phase.
