Life-cycle cost analysis steps

Vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) manufacture Maximization of VCM production and minimization of environmental burden, environmental impact and operating cost simultaneously. e-constraint method A design methodology consisting of 4 steps was proposed and applied to VCM plant The steps are (1) life cycle analysis of the process, (2) formulation of the design problem, (3) MOO, and (4) multi-criteria decision-making to find best compromise solutions. Khan et al. (2001)... 

The Industrie 4.0 vision addresses the question of how to provide sufficient flexibility at reasonable cost by representing the major process steps for the life cycle of a product and the life cycle of a production system, which allows producing the product, such as bread or automobiles, as input for the analysis of dependencies between product and production system. The upper half of Fig. 1.3 presents the relevant life cycle phases of the product while the lower half depicts the life cycle phases for the production system to be considered (VDWDE 2014a). The arrows crossing the line between the upper and lower halves provide a focus for the integrated consideration of product and production systems engineering (see also Fig. 2.1). 

A key requirement is for firms (at all levels in the production chain) to undertake, as a first step, a life cycle analysis of their products, and to monitor the behaviour of their suppliers and customers. This may well occur in conjunction with an internal environmental review or audit, which will prompt the firm to scrutinise closely all aspects of its operations. There are a range of complex issues concerning the identification and measurement of environmental costs and benefits, and the impact of environmental factors on the valuation of company liabilities and productive assets, which are only now being fiiUy addressed by new environmental accounting techniques. Part of the problem is that there is no legal requirement for companies to disclose environmental expenditures separately, or to report publicly on their environmental policy and performance, although this is likely to change in the future. 

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