Through-life costing (TLC) is a term used in cost estimation for costing a product from its conception to the end-of-life. However, there seems to be no common representation of the terminologies in the various stages of TLC. This paper reports the findings of research into TLC practices for defence electronic products and includes the terms and elements used in the TLC methods. The terminologies used for this research are adopted from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), including ISO 15288 and ISO 10303 Application Protocols 233 and 239. A TLC spectrum diagram representing how design information is inferred to support the application of top-down and bottom-up approaches is also discussed. A case study focused on the concept and the development stages of design is presented and is followed by suggestions on how the proposed method can be applied to the succeeding stages of manufacturing, in-service, and disposal.
FollowellD. A., ‘Enhancing supportability through life-cycle definitions.’ In Proceedings of IEEE Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium, Washington DC, (1995), pp. 402–409; ISBN 0-7803-2470-6. ISBN 0-7803-2470-6.
2.
EhlenM. A., ‘Life-cycle cost of new construction materials’J. Infrastructure Systems3 (4) (1997): 29–133.
3.
CheungW. M.NewnesL. B.MilehamA. R.MarshR.LanhamJ. D., ‘A study of life cycle costing in the perspectives of research and commercial applications in the 21st century.’ In Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. (IDETC/CIE 2007), Las Vegas, Nevada, 4–7 September, DETC2007-34425.DETC2007-34425.
4.
ColeR. J.SternerE., ‘Reconciling theory and practice of life-cycle costing’Building Res. Information28 (5/6) (2000): 368–375.
5.
BradleyM.DawsonR., ‘Whole life cost: The future trend in software development’Software Quality J.8 (2) (1999): 121–131.
6.
ISO/DIS 15685-5, Building and constructed assets—service life planning, Part 5: Whole life costing (2003).
UllmanD. G., The mechanical design process 3rd edition (McGraw-Hill Higher Education) 2002 ISBN-10: 0071122818, ISBN-13: 978-0071122818.
10.
KawauchiY.RausandM., ‘A new approach to production regularity assessment in the oil and chemical industries’Reliability Engng and System Safety75 (2002): 379–388.
11.
NewnesL. B.MilehamA. R., ‘A proposed method for cost estimating for low volume infrequent electronic products.’ In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Concurrent engineering (ISPE CE 2006), Antibes, France, 18–22 September, pp. 699–706 (IOS Press); ISBN 1-58603-651-3. ISBN 1-58603-651-3.
12.
ParkJ. H.SeoK. K., ‘Incorporating life-cycle cost into early product development’Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part B: J. Engineering Manufacture218 (B9) (2004): 1059–1066.
13.
SeoK. K.ParkJ. H.JangD. S.WallaceD., ‘Approximate estimation of the product life cycle cost using artificial neural networks in conceptual design’Int. J. Advd Mfg Technol.19 (2002): 461–471.
14.
El-HaramM. A.MarenjakS.HornerR. M. W., ‘Development of a generic framework for collecting whole life cost data for the building industry’J. Quality in Maintenance Engng8 (2) (2002): 144–151.
15.
SandbergM.BoartP.LarssonT., ‘Functional product life-cycle simulation model for cost estimation in conceptual design of jet engine components’Concurrent Engng: Res. Applics13 (4) (2005): 331–342.
16.
NicoliniD.TomkinsC.HoltiR.OldmanA.SmalleyM., ‘Can target costing and whole life costing be applied in the construction industry? Evidence from two case studies’Br. J. Managmt11 (2000): 303–324.
17.
UgwuaO. O.KumaraswamyaT. M. M.KungF.NgS. T., ‘Object-oriented framework for durability assessment and life cycle costing of highway bridges’Automn in Construction14 (2005): 611–632.
18.
XuX.ChenJ. L. Q.XieS. Q., ‘Framework of a product lifecycle costing system’J. Computing and Information Sci. Engng6 (1) (2006): 69–77.
19.
HochschornerE.FinnvedenG., ‘Use of life cycle assessment methodology in the acquisition process of defence material’ Totalforsvarets Forskningsinstitut FOI-R-0786-SE 2003; ISSN 1650-1942.
20.
DoD (Department of Defense) of USA, Military standard configuration management, MIL-STD-973, 1993.
21.
Research and Technology Organisation, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (RTO/NATO), Cost structure and life cycle cost for military systems. Report RTO-MP-096, AC/323, SAS-036, TP/27, 2003, ISBN 92-837-0034-1.
22.
Research and Technology Organisation, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (RTO/NATO), Cost structure and life cycle cost for military systems. Report RTO-TR-058, AC/323, SAS-028, TP/37, 2003.
23.
Research and Technology Organisation, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (RTO/NATO), Methods and models for life cycle costing in June 2007, RTO technical report RTO-SAS-054, 2007.
24.
CheungW. M.MarshR.NewnesL. B.MilehamA. R.LanhamJ. D., Phase 1 interim report for research project ‘Cost estimating for low volume long life products in electronic defence systems, current cost systems, evaluations and industrial survey’ Contact Dr L. Newnes, L.B.Newnes@bath.ac.uk, 2007.
25.
ISO 15288, Systems engineering—system life cycle processes, BS ISO/IEC 15288:2002, 2002.
AltingL., Life-cycle design of products: A new opportunity for manufacturing enterprise, in concurrent engineering automation, tools and techniques (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd) 1993 ISBN-10: 0471554928.
PughP. G., ‘Concept costing for defence projects: The problem and its solution’Defence and Peace Economics15 (1) (2004): 39–57.
43.
HaleP.ScanlanJ.BruC., ‘Design and prototyping of knowledge management software for aerospace manufacturing.’ In Proceedings of the ISPE International Conference on Concurrent engineering (CE 2003), Madeira Island, Portugal, 26–30 July, pp. 1083–1090.
SheppersonK.BarbaraK.KhambhatiS.PalancaR., ‘Using dynamic data exchange (DDE) and macro variables to create custom Excel workbooks with multi-sheets.’ In Proceedings of the SAS Global Forum Conference, San Antonio, Texas, 16–19 March (2008), paper 229. JEM1315 paper 229.
