Interactive design on the product life cycle costs: a case study

The aim of this paper is to make designers aware of the interactions that exist between decisions made during the design phase and their consequences on Life Cycle Costs (LCC) in the context of a predetermined business model. Based on the value analysis, LCC and computational method, the proposed methodology can serve as a practical guide to explain the different design strategies according to the business model requirements. Profitability requires the engineer to identify a balanced product architecture by varying parameters such as component reliability, operational availability, accessibility solutions and maintenance plans. A case study is presented, without calculation details, to compare two design solutions in terms of total cost. An industrial system consisting of three components in series is used. This method allows designers to adapt solutions to the economic model in which they will operate. This time-consuming and costly method is not recommended for all industrial products, but is relevant for technologically complex and long-lived products such as trains, wind turbines or manufacturing equipment.