Life cycle cost modeling of automotive paint systems

Vehicle coating is an important component of automotive manufacturing. The paint shop constitutes the plurality of initial investment in an automotive assembly plant, consumes the majority of energy used in the plant's operation, and generates significant waste from paint overspray. The coating process also results in the emission of polluting volatile organic compounds (VOCs). New paint technologies based upon powder coatings offer reductions in VOC emissions along with potentially reduced energy usage and the ability to reuse paint overspray. However, quantification of these advantages requires clear understanding of the life cycle costs associated with each paint technology, modeled over the decades-long time horizons within which a paint shop operates. Life cycle cost models go beyond acquisition cost to consider all relevant cost drivers for a given system. This includes obvious candidates such as investment and operating costs, but also may include more subtle factors such as costs associated with variation, disruption, or flexibility, hereafter referred to as hidden costs.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Leitz, Christopher W. (Christopher William), 1976-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John Carroll, Frank Field and Randolph Kirchain.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39594

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39594