Each year, automotive OEMs implement a variety of Engineering Changes (ECs) in their production. In the timing of ECs, different KPIs are often in conflict with one another or even unknown to the OEMs. Therefore, OEMs struggle to identify the optimal date to implement an EC. This paper presents a method to determine the cost-optimal implementation date for each EC, considering time, cost, and quality KPIs based on a new EC classification rule-set. To evaluate the presented method, case-studies at a German automotive OEM were performed, two of which are discussed.

Whilst remanufacture is identified as a key enabler for sustainable manufacture in future industry, its role within the context of new product development remains unclear. Where prototypes often go through multiple iterations with varying degrees of change, could remanufacture be adopted to reduce the time and cost components of design iteration? This paper presents a computational study to explore the potential savings afforded by remanufacture across stages of a rapid prototyping process. Results suggest significant reductions to development time and cost can be achieved.

Aircraft cabin monuments must be optimized in terms of lightweight design, cost structure and variance. Model-based approaches support the aircraft data and help to modify them consistently during further development. In this paper, a holistic methodological approach for product families of aircraft cabin development is shown, which integrates lightweight and cost-efficient aspects, in addition to the variance focus. For this purpose, the development of cost-efficient and ligthweight optimized cabin modules is supported in a model-based way.

The use of product-service systems business models is increasing in today's economy. Because the products that provide the service to the customers incur cost during their lifetime, the method of lifecycle costing finds wide-spread use. However, this paper shows the current methods have some inaccuracies when determining lifecycle costs. The methods do not consider the required number of products necessary to provide the offered service to the customers. This paper describes a new framework for lifecycle costing that includes these cost components.

The increasing market competitiveness and CAE availability require the products to be optimised. This practice is exceedingly present when producing semi-standard parts like structural elements. Several cost calculation methods are developed, bringing up the question - which one to use? In this article, we compared three methods; a welded I-section beam was used as an example. The optimisation was carried out using two objectives (mass and cost) and was submitted to Eurocode boundary conditions. The results have shown that the cost calculation method has a negligible influence on the results.

Introducing more customized products causes complexity costs, which are hard to estimate and measure. Researchers and practitioners have therefore developed approaches to measure these costs. This paper reviews the current approaches and reveals a lack of a holistic view on the underlying problem and, hence, deficits to certain economic questions. We therefore suggest using the Extended Axiomatic Design (EAD) framework as an interdisciplinary model that adresses the economic consequences of variety-induced complexity.

Environmental economics has made it possible to estimate prices for air pollution externalities. However, these values are rarely observed in emissions trading markets. Moreover, market outcomes show prices persistently remain below expectations and frequently fall over time. Low allowance prices may appear virtuous, but often reflect poor market design that does not anticipate interaction with other policies, and may undermine confidence in market-based approaches to environmental policy. This paper surveys emissions markets and factors influencing prices, and concludes with a discussion of how market design can anticipate and remedy the strong tendency for low prices.