Development of Producibility Evaluation Criteria
Abstract
It is generally understood that by improving the producibility of a product, the cost of that product will be decreased. Unfortunately, many so-called producibility studies have been conducted on the invalid conclusion that the reverse is also true, i.e., that anything that decreases the (acquisition) cost of the ship is a producibility improvement. To accept this definition is to equate producibility with productivity, and normally leads to consideration of many more elements than should be taken into account for evaluating producibility. Establishment of a relatively narrow definition is essential for correctly understanding what elements of a ship design affect the design producibility. For the purposes of this project, producibility has been understood as the recurring cost of construction of a product. Analysis of this "definition" reveals that it is not a definition of producibility per se, but a description of how producibility is to be measured. Consequently, in order to focus the efforts of the study team the following statement was developed and used as a definition of producibility Producibility relates to the recurring expenditure of resources for constructing a product. Recurring cost is the measure of producibility. There is an inverse relationship between recurring cost and producibility. One of the major features of this definition is that it differentiates producibility cost from nonrecurring cost. This is necessary because nonrecurring cost maybe prorated over several units when determining total cost, and therefore is a variable, while the recurring cost is essentially non-variant (ignoring learning curve effects).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA452773
Entities
People
- Daniel H. Thompson
- Gilbert L. Kraine
- James R. Wilkins Jr.
- Kenneth H. Borchers
- Marilyn M. Borchers