Production cost reduction

Reason New product Cost reduction Legal requirement... 

Significant reduction in hard zinc and zinc ash production (cost reduction due to reduction in the consumption of zinc). 

Such RIM IMR technology has been developed by Dow and 1s 1n the final stages of production qualification at major RIM molders. While the details of this technology are beyond the scope of this paper, the impact of an effective IMR on RIM economics can be addressed. This data 1s shown on "Table X", where one can see cycle times reduced from 120 seconds to 90 seconds the elimination of nonproductive mold cleaning time and the elimination of scrap resulting from external mold release buildup. The reduction in part cost 1s significant the unit cost for the body panel is reduced from 11.72 to 9.55 for an 18.5% production cost reduction. 

In the third stage of the product life cycle, incremental change, the diffusion of available knowledge, the transfer of know-how from one small or large firm to another, the nature of the accumulation of small product-cost reductions by process improvement developments are all an integral part. Here the role of government and society is to open the way for transfer of nonproprietary know-how. 

Process productivity cost reductions Are there processing costs that the choice of a premium additive could reduce, offsetting the additive s cost and providing even greater returns For example , can line speeds be increased with the additive Scrap reduced Higher recycled content levels made feasible by a suonger AO (See Case 3.3, for example.)... 

The most significant change that could occur in the usage pattern of NBRs would be an increasing use of the thermoplastic alternatives, where the production cost reductions possible in the moulding process would be difficult to resist. Even though some final application conditions have warranted a move to more exotic polymers, the... 

The production costs of a MZFR type fuel element which also apply to the fuel of the Atucha reactor amount at the present to approximately 55 of the total costs, with the balance of 4-5 for uranium and Zlrcaloy. It is thought that a significant reduction In future production costs is possible by rationalized manufacturing methods and standardized test procedures which go hand in hand with Increased production capacities. The uranium costs may be assumed to remain constant in the period under review. In the long run it is therefore advisable to choose that fuel element design which will benefit most by the expected production cost reduction. 

Industrial production of chemical and metallurgical processes accumulates a large amount of data every day. Useful information in these data sets can be extracted by data processing for twofold purposes (1) to provide the mathematical models for the optimal control of the industrial processes, in order to realize the energy saving, yield increasing, pollution control, and production cost reduction (2) to find the mathematical model of the fault in production for the fault diagnosis, in order to find the cause of the fault, or to find the operation condition to avoid the fault. 

Finally, the fuel cell vehicle or fuel cell for stationary power have to be mass produced and the development of automated mass production technology is very important in terms of bulk production, cost reduction and reproducibility of fuel cell performance. Most of the development work on MEA preparation is through hands-on experience and hand held technology and it is very difficult to reproduce MEA with similar performance as some amount of manual error always creeps in. Thus automation and development of mass production technology of MEA preparation and assembly line for stack production should be looked into very seriously especially for FCVs. 

Figure 5.9 shows an example of the efficiency of these products. The reductions of CFPP and pour point can easily attain 6 to 12°C for concentrations between 200 and 600 ppm by weight. The treatment cost is relatively low, on the order of a few hundredths of a Franc per liter of diesel fuel. In practice, a diesel fuel containing a flow improver is recognized by the large difference (more than 10°C) between the cloud point and the CFPP. 

Because an excess of ammonia is fed to the reactor, and because the reactions ate reversible, ammonia and carbon dioxide exit the reactor along with the carbamate and urea. Several process variations have been developed to deal with the efficiency of the conversion and with serious corrosion problems. The three main types of ammonia handling ate once through, partial recycle, and total recycle. Urea plants having capacity up to 1800 t/d ate available. Most advances have dealt with reduction of energy requirements in the total recycle process. The economics of urea production ate most strongly influenced by the cost of the taw material ammonia. When the ammonia cost is representative of production cost in a new plant it can amount to more than 50% of urea cost. 

Globally, iron production is expected to iacrease ia developiag couatries as local steel iadustries grow to supply the increasing demand for steel products. Iron production ia already developed couatries is expected to stabilize or possibly decliae as the opportunities for export diminish. Efforts in the developed countries are expected to be in energy efficiency, productivity, quaUty, and cost reduction. 

DR Processes Under Development. The 1990s have seen continuous evolution of direct reduction technology. Short-term development work is focusing on direct reduction processes that can use lower cost iron oxide fines as a feed material. Use of fines can represent a 20 30/1 (20%) savings in DRI production cost compared to use of pehets or lump ore. Some examples of these processes include FASTMET, Iron Carbide, CIRCOFER, and an improved version of the EIOR process. 

Research nd Development. Eor commodity chemicals, emphasis is on the improvement of plant operation and reduction of production costs. Eor specialty chemicals, emphasis is on assembling a staff capable of quickly identifying and solving a customer problem under the existing plant conditions and operating procedures of the customer. 

Most current world PV production comes from the classical ingot technologies. Nevertheless, sheet growth, thin films, and PV concentrators hold greater potential for sufficient cost reduction to stimulate large-scale appHcations. 

The production of steel is of great importance in most countries because modem civilization depends heavily on steel, the raw material for many industries. As a result, most countries have an active steel industry, which at one time was heavily subsidized but as of this writing is increasingly privatized. The world trade in steel was frequently a source of hard currency where the United States was the main contributor. Trade is much more at market prices that reflect the real cost of production. Under these conditions, the United States in its own market is very often the low cost producer following massive cost reduction in the 1980s. The United States can export a few million tons per year at a profit. 

The trend toward lower proof beverages will also likely continue because of new consumer preferences, cost reduction, and tax savings opportunities. Pressures to improve production efficiencies and lower costs will increase and new technology must play a greater role in this area. Distilled beverages have been produced for several thousands of years and will continue to be consumed in an ever increasing variety of forms and packages. 

Finally, the main benefit as far as competitive business performance is concerned is the potential for reduction in failure costs. Studies using CA very early in the development process of a number of projects have indicated that the potential failure costs were all reduced through an analysis. This is shown in Figure 2.47, where this potential failure cost reduction is shown as the difference between pre-CA and post-CA application by the teams analysing the product designs. 

Before setting about the task of developing such a model, the product development process requires definition along with an indication of its key stages, this is so the appropriate tools and techniques can be applied (Booker et al., 1997). In the approach presented here in Figure 5.11, the product development phases are activities generally defined in the automotive industry (Clark and Fujimoto, 1991). QFD Phase 1 is used to understand and quantify the importance of customer needs and requirements, and to support the definition of product and process requirements. The FMEA process is used to explore any potential failure modes, their likely Occurrence, Severity and Detectability. DFA/DFM techniques are used to minimize part count, facilitate ease of assembly and project component manufacturing and assembly costs, and are primarily aimed at cost reduction. 

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