Material costs, reducing effective specifications

In the previous sections, we have discussed some specific ideas for reducing material costs, and/or processing costs. However, we need to remember that material selection affects every variable in the part cost equation. While there may be ways to reduce costs in one area of the equation (often many ways), some of these efforts may actually increase costs in another area of the equation. The challenge to the design team how do you evaluate all of these effects and come up with an optimal solution ... 

The Chemical Process Industry (CPI) uses various quantitative and qualitative techniques to assess the reliability and risk of process equipment, process systems, and chemical manufacturing operations. These techniques identify the interactions of equipment, systems, and persons that have potentially undesirable consequences. In the case of reliability analyses, the undesirable consequences (e.g., plant shutdown, excessive downtime, or production of off-specification product) are those incidents which reduce system profitability through loss of production and increased maintenance costs. In the case of risk analyses, the primary concerns are human injuries, environmental impacts, and system damage caused by occurrence of fires, explosions, toxic material releases, and related hazards. Quantification of risk in terms of the severity of the consequences and the likelihood of occurrence provides the manager of the system with an important decisionmaking tool. By using the results of a quantitative risk analysis, we are better able to answer such questions as, Which of several candidate systems poses the least risk Are risk reduction modifications necessary and What modifications would be most effective in reducing risk ... 

As with most chemical transformations the waste generated are many folds greater than the amount of material produced. Our waste treatment philosophy is to eliminate, reduce, recycle, or treat in that order of preferences. Eliminate, reduce, and recycle are basic process alternatives that are routinely part of the process strategy and are the most cost effective choices. Waste treatment is usually the last alternative and the most expensive option and is necessary in order for a chemical company to maintain its obligations to the environment and community. However, it also offers the most and diverse methods that could be tailored to a specific waste problem. Examples of methods to treat waste are incineration, wet air oxidation, chemolysis, ozonolysis, chlorinolysis, UV treatment, activated carbon, biotreatment, and supercritical oxidation. 

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