Engineering Economics

Text Book
Engineering Economic Analysis
9th edition
D. Newman, Ted Eschenbach, and Jerome
Lavelle
 What is it about?
• It is about decision making.
• We are providing you with the tools to properly solve
and analyze.
• You need to understand the decision making process
and use the proper tools to compare between
alternatives.
• Final Goal: Make better decisions.

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 A Sea of Problems

• Simple problems.
• Intermediate problems.
• Complex problems.

Where is Engineering Economic Analysis most

suitable?

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 Simple problems
• Should I pay cash or use my credit card?
• Do I buy a semester parking pass or use the
parking meters?

• These are pretty simple problems, and good

solutions do not require much time or effort

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 Intermediate Problems

• Important enough to be given serious thought.

• Cannot be worked in one’s head.
• Has economic aspects important in reaching a
decision.
• Examples:
• Shall I buy or lease my next car?
• Which equipment should be selected for a new
assembly line?

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 Complex problems
• They represent a mixture of economic, political,
and humanistic elements
• The decision of Mercedes-Benz to build an automobile
assembly plant in Thscaloosa, Alabama, illustrates a
complex problem. Beside the economic aspects,
Mercedes- Benz had to consider possible reactions in the
American auto industry. Would the German government
pass legislation to prevent the overseas plant? What
about German labor unions?

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Engineering Economic Analysis

• Analysis of costs and benefits.

• The economic analysis of costs, benefits, and
revenues occurring over time is called engineering
economic analysis.
• Example: Construction of a road
– Costs occur in the near future.
– Benefits begin when construction is finished and
continues for a long time.

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 It answers the following …

• Which engineering projects are worthwhile? (Petroleum

engineer showed oil deposit is worth developing)
• Which engineering projects should have a higher
priority? (limited funds while many projects?)
• How should the engineering project be designed?
(consider the plane example) light material are expensive but cheaper to
fly.

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It also answers personal questions …

• How to achieve long-term financial goals? (Buy a house,

going to graduate school)
• How to compare different ways to finance purchases?
(dealer’s low interest rate or the rebate with the bank?)
• How to make short and long-term investment
decisions? (Higher salary vs stock options). Buy one or tow semester
parking pass.

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 The Decision Making Process

• Rational
• Irrational or inadequate (Horse example)
• Should have at least two alternatives to call it
“Decision Making”

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 Rational Decision Making
1. Recognize the problem
2. Define the goal or objective
3. Assemble relevant data
4. Identify feasible alternatives
5. Select the criterion to determine the best alternative
6. Construct a model
7. Predict each alternative’s outcomes or consequenses
8. Choose the best alternative
9. Audit the results

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 Rational Decision Making
1. Recognize the Problem
- Mercury in fish example
- I need a place to live this semester

An existing problem might be obvious or hidden

►►Total Quality Management (TQM) or Continuous
Improvement (CI) programs to identify problems and
present solutions

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 Rational Decision Making

2. Define the Goal or Objective

The act of describing the task
- Overall goal (e.g. a person leading a pleasant life or a
company operating profitably)
- Specific (pay off the loan on my car or find a nice apartment)

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 Rational Decision Making
3. Assemble Relevant Information
What are the facts? Are more data needed, and is it worth more than the
cost to obtain it?
Example: To rent an apartment, you need information on rent,
utilities, apartment age, parking, distance to campus,
distance to shopping, and others.
Example 1.1 in your book: Accounting data in the company

Note that information need to be relevant in order to be useful

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 Rational Decision Making
4. Identify Feasible Alternatives

► Two types of alternatives are sometimes ignored:

a. Do nothing
b. Patch it up and keep it running for another year
► It is good to list practical and impractical alternatives. However,
do not seriously consider an alternative that cannot be adopted.
► An alternative might be infeasible for violating the safety,
violating the religious laws, requiring resource materials that
cannot be obtained.
► Only the feasible alternatives are retained for further analysis.

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 Rational Decision Making
5. Select the Criterion to Determine the Best Alternative
Now that we listed the alternatives in step 4, it is time to
compare. How do you make a choice?
• Least disturbance to the environment.
• Improve the distribution of wealth among people
• Minimize the time to accomplish the goal
• Minimize unemployment
• Maximize profit (usually selected in Eng. Decision making
– Fixed input → need to maximize the benefits or other
outputs
– Fixed output → need to minimize the costs or other
inputs
– Neither input or output fixed → need to maximize the
benefits minus the costs

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 Rational Decision Making
6. Constructing the Model

• Bring the decision-making elements (objective, relevant

data, feasible alternatives, and selection criterion) together
in relationships (build a model)
– Mathematical relationship, which is the common in
economics
– Physical model
• Example: Borrowing money to pay for a car: use a
mathematical relationship combining the amount, interest
rate, duration, and monthly payments.

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 Rational Decision Making
7. Predicting the Outcome for Each Alternative
A model and the data are used to predict the outcomes for
each feasible alternative
• Example: Motorcycle vs. bicycle:
– A motor cycle makes fuel suppliers happy, makes neighbors unhappy,
makes the environment more polluted, and lowers saving account.
• Use single criterion to measure the relative attractiveness of
the various alternatives
– Example: a pavement that uses demolition wastes vs a pavement that
does not. The criterion might be to maximize the use of the waste
material.
• To choose the best alternative, you need to state the outcomes
for each alternative in a comparable way (usually in terms of
money; i.e. costs and benefits)

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 Rational Decision Making
8. Choose The Best Alternative

• Choose the alternative that best meets the choice

criterion after considering both the numerical
consequences and the consequences not included in the
monetary analysis.
• Time to consider intangible consequences.
• Eliminate certain feasible alternatives if clearly
dominated by other better alternatives (process becomes
more efficient).
– Example: On-line vs. in-store purchase of a computer.

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 Rational Decision Making
9. Audit the Results
A comparison of what happened against the predictions
– Example: A new machine purchased to save labor and
improve quality, did it?
• If yes → your analysis worked well
• If not → what was overlooked?
• Auditing checks if the economic analysis was extremely
optimistic so that the mistakes leading to such inaccurate
projections are not repeated.
• Auditing is an effective way to promote realistic
economic analysis calculations (when involved people
know that the results will be audited)

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 Engineering Decision Making for
Current Costs
• Costs and benefits occur over a short period of time.
• Just add up the costs and benefits for each alternative.
• Choose the best alternative using the suitable economic
criterion.

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Example 1.2
A concrete aggregate mix is required to contain at least 31%
sand by volume for proper batching.
One source of material, which has 25% sand and 75% coarse
aggregate, sells for $3 per cubic meter (m3). Another source,
which has 40% sand and 60% coarse aggregate, sells for
$4.4/m3.
Determine the least cost per cubic meter of blended
aggregates.

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 Example 1-2
• Concrete aggregate mix
• Standards: At least 31% sand by volume
Source 1 Source 2
Sand 25% 40%
Coarse aggregate 75% 60%
Price ($/m3) 3.00 4.40

Let x = Portion of blended aggregates from $3.00/m3 source

1-x = Portion of blended aggregates from $4.40/m3 source

Sand Balance: x(0.25) + (1-x)(0.4) = 0.31

x = 0.60

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 … continue Example 1-2
Thus the blended aggregates will contain
60 % of the $3.00/m3 material
40 % of the $4.40/m3 material

The least cost per cubic meter of blended aggregates is

0.60($3.00) + 0.40 ($4.40) = 1.80 + 1.76 = $3.56/m3

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 Example 1-3
A machine part is manufactured at a unit cost of
40 cent for material and 15 cent for direct labor.
An investment of $500,000 in tooling is required.
The order calls for 3 million pieces. Halfway
through the order, a new method manufacture
can be put into effect that will reduce the unit cost
to 34 cents for material and 10 cents for direct
labor – but it will require $100000 for additional
tooling. This tooling will not be useful for future
orders. Other costs are allocated at 2.5 time the
direct labor cost. What if any thing, should be
done.
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Since there is only one way to handle first 1.5 million
pieces, our problem concerns only the second half of
the order
Alternative A: Continue with Present Method

Material cost 1,500,000 pieces x 0.40=$600,000

Direct labor cost 1,500,000pieces x 0.15=225,000

Other costs 2.50 x direct labor cost =562,500

Cost for remaining 1,500,000 pieces $1,387,500

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Alternative B: Change the Manufacturing Method

Additional tooling cost $ 100,000

Material cost 1,500,000 pieces x 0.34 = 510,000

Direct labor cost 1,500,000pieces x 0.10 = 150,000

Other costs 2.50 x direct labor cost = 375,000

Cost for remaining 1,500,000 pieces $1,135,000

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 Example 1-4
In the design of a cold-storage warehouse, the
specifications call for a maximum heat transfer
through the warehouse walls of 30,000 joules
per hour per square meter of wall when there is
a 30°C temperature difference between the
inside surface and the outside surface of the
insulation.
The two insulation materials being considered
are as follows:

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Insulation Material Cost per Cubic Meter Conductivity
(J-m/m2-oC-hr)

Rock wool $12.50 140

Foamed insulation 14.00 110

The basic equation for heat conduction through a wall is:

Q = K ( ∆ T)/L

where Q = heat transfer, in J/hr/m2 of wall

K = conductivity in J-mlm2- oC-hr
∆ T = difference in temperature between the two surfaces, in oC
L = thickness of insulating material, in meters

Which insulation material should be selected?

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There are two steps required to solve the problem. First,
the required thickness of each of the alternate materials
must be calculated. Then, since the problem is one of
providing a fixed output (heat transfer through the wall
limited to a fixed maximum amount), the criterion is to
minimize the input (cost).

Required Insulation Thickness

Rock wool 30000= 140(30)/L L = 0.14 m
Foamed insulation 30000= 110(30)/L L = 0.11m

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Cost of Insulation per Square Meter of Wall

Unit cost=cost/m3x insulation thickness, in meter

Rock wool Unit cost = $12.50 x 0.14m =$1.75/m2

Foamed insulation Unit cost = $14.00 X 0.11m = $1.54/m2

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Home work 1

1.23
1.27
1.35
1.41

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