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Life Cycle Cost - A Tool for Development of Sustainable Products and Technologies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 March 2023) | Viewed by 16767

Special Issue Editors

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jaroslaw Selech

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland
Interests: life cycle cost analysis; reliability analysis; maintenance; transport
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Karol Andrzejczak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Poznan University of Technology, 60-965 Poznan, Poland
Interests: theory of reliability; stochastic models of maintenance; optimisation of transport costs; statistics in transport
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Stanisław Młynarski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Cracow University of Technology, 31-155 Cracow, Poland
Interests: operation of machines and vehicles as well as reliability; safety and economy in transport
Dr. Katarzyna Joachimiak-Lechman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Poznan University of Economics and Business, 61-875 Poznan, Poland
Interests: life cycle assessment; life cycle cost; life cycle management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Life cycle costing (LCC) is often used to assess different technological processes in many manufacturing sectors, such as the automotive, railway, mining, energy, building construction, chemical, and consumer goods sectors. LCC is different from the traditional cost accounting system which reports cost object profitability on a calendar basis (i.e., monthly, quarterly and annually), whereas life cycle costs are the sum of all funds expended in support of the item from its conception and fabrication through its operation to the end of its useful life. Although many different methods of LCC are known, they are not widely implemented and little is known about how practising LCC improves life cycle management (LCM), especially if LCM is considered in three dimensions of sustainability, such as economy (LCC), environment (LCA), and social (SLCA).

Furthermore, the costs generated during the technology operation period can be significant, especially maintenance, repair and replacement costs, therefore they should be taken into consideration during the decision-making process, namely through a Life Cycle Cost Analysis. One key element of long-term maintenance is the identification and optimisation of the life cycle costs of investments as part of purchasing decision-making. The predictability of costs and the profitable use of technology can be enhanced by using the techno-economic LCC model, which can be used to predict life cycle costs as part of maintenance management and investment planning.

Original research, theoretical and experimental, case studies, and comprehensive review papers are invited for possible publication in this Special Issue. It will also consider computational techniques, probabilistic methods, and mathematical optimisation techniques that are expertly blended to support the analysis of multicriteria decision-making problems with defined requirements.

We invite submissions from the areas of engineering, natural sciences, public policy, law, social science, business and economics. Relevant topics to this Special Issue include, but are not limited to the following subjects:

  • Life-Cycle Costing (LCC) as an assessment tool used in industrial technology;
  • LCC analysis as an engineering economic analysis quantifying the differential costs of alternative investment options;
  • Stochastic processes in the life cycle cost prediction;
  • Remaining useful lifetime and maintenance costs of the operated technical facility;
  • Environmental and economic life cycle efficiency;
  • Sustainable production and consumption;
  • Prediction and optimisation of durability, reliability and operating costs;
  • RAMS analysis for transport systems;
  • Analysis of the warranty period in terms of safety, reliability and cost of use.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jaroslaw Selech
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Karol Andrzejczak
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Stanisław Młynarski
Dr. Katarzyna Joachimiak-Lechman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • life cycle cost (LCC)
  • life cycle assessment (LCA)
  • life cycle management (LCM)
  • efficiency
  • social life cycle assessment (SLCA)
  • life cycle cost management
  • sustainable products
  • sustainable technology
  • sustainable system
  • maintenance management
  • remaining useful lifetime (RUL)
  • stochastic models of maintenance
  • theory of reliability
  • statistics in transport
  • reliability
  • availability
  • maintainability
  • safety (RAMS)
  • warranty time
  • optimisation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 1074 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Enterprise Life Cycle Based on Two-Stage Logistic Model: Exemplified by China’s Automobile Manufacturing Enterprises
by Xiaolan Wu and Shengyuan Wang
Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14437; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114437 - 3 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1517
Abstract
Enterprises in socio-economic ecosystems, like organisms in natural ecosystems, have life cycles. Since the enterprise life cycle theory was proposed, how to measure the enterprise life cycle has been a hot research topic. In order to assess the life cycle of an enterprise, [...] Read more.
Enterprises in socio-economic ecosystems, like organisms in natural ecosystems, have life cycles. Since the enterprise life cycle theory was proposed, how to measure the enterprise life cycle has been a hot research topic. In order to assess the life cycle of an enterprise, a two-stage logistic model was proposed in this research, based on ecological theory and a population dynamics model. The first-stage logistic model measures the internal inhibition coefficient, intrinsic growth rate, and theoretical upper limit of enterprise development scale. The second-stage logistic model deals with the theoretical upper limit of enterprise development scale in the declining period, and measures the intrinsic growth rate, internal inhibition coefficient, and the theoretical upper limit of enterprise development scale in the declining period. In this study, an empirical analysis is conducted with Chinese automobile enterprises, which shows that an enterprise should withdraw from the market by insolvency liquidation or restructuring when both the intrinsic growth rate and internal inhibition coefficient are less than zero. Finally, this paper proposes the evaluation matrix of intrinsic growth and market potential. This matrix can intuitively give the evaluation method of the enterprise life cycle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Cost - A Tool for Development of Sustainable Products and Technologies)
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20 pages, 3346 KiB  
Article
Selection of Maintenance Strategies for Machines in a Series-Parallel System
by Bożena Zwolińska and Jakub Wiercioch
Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 11953; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141911953 - 22 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1638
Abstract
In this paper, an assessment of the failure frequency of machines in a series-parallel structure was conducted. The analyses contain the decomposition of the system according to the general theory of complex systems. Based on the results obtained, a model for an optimal [...] Read more.
In this paper, an assessment of the failure frequency of machines in a series-parallel structure was conducted. The analyses contain the decomposition of the system according to the general theory of complex systems. Based on the results obtained, a model for an optimal determination of the mean time to failure (MTTF) according to the expected value of the gamma distribution was proposed. For this purpose, the method of moments was used to determine the optimal values of the parameters of the estimated gamma distribution. The article is designed to be analytical. The object of consideration in this analysis is the real production system working in accordance with make-to-order, with a high degree of product customisation. Moreover, in the considered system occurs a dichotomy of mutually exclusive flows: push and pull. In the article, the main emphasis was placed on the applicability of the proposed MTTF value-shaping algorithm. Then, the maintenance strategy for each machine (reactive, preventive or predictive) was proposed. Maintenance strategy selection considered sustainable development principles in the criterion of minimizing maintenance actions, fulfilling the assumption of not interrupting the flow of the processed material. Based on inductive analyses, the concepts of improvement actions individually for each machine in the analysed subsystem were deductively defined. As a result, it was proved that a reactive maintenance strategy is appropriate for machines that have manufacturing reserves and are low priority. The equipment possessing manufacturing reserves but also having an impact on the risk of interrupting the flow of the processed material should be operated in accordance with a preventive maintenance strategy. A predictive maintenance strategy was proposed for the machines with the highest priority, which simultaneously do not have manufacturing reserves and the risk of manufacturing line operation interruption is high. The considerations were conducted with a holistic approach, taking into account the main functional areas of the enterprise. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Cost - A Tool for Development of Sustainable Products and Technologies)
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15 pages, 612 KiB  
Article
Optimization of Safety System Structures in Railway Transport
by Adrian Gill and Piotr Smoczyński
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10700; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910700 - 26 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1897
Abstract
One of the basic strategies for reacting to unacceptable risk is introducing new elements to the analyzed domain. These elements and the relations between them can be treated as a safety system. Although expanding the safety system usually reduces the risk of specific [...] Read more.
One of the basic strategies for reacting to unacceptable risk is introducing new elements to the analyzed domain. These elements and the relations between them can be treated as a safety system. Although expanding the safety system usually reduces the risk of specific hazards, it often leads to new problems resulting from its excessive development: the system becomes costly and difficult to understand. One of the methods of avoiding the negative issues is to apply an approach described in this paper, which is based on an optimization method making use of the results of risk analysis. The article contains a detailed mathematical description of an optimal solution search algorithm, enabling the selection of a configuration of safety system components that will be the most appropriate in terms of the degree of risk reduction and the related costs. The theoretical part was supplemented with a working example concerning railway traffic control systems. Using the proposed method, it is possible to obtain an optimal structure of a safety system, ensuring at least a tolerated level of risk, adequate to the identified hazards. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Cost - A Tool for Development of Sustainable Products and Technologies)
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18 pages, 3738 KiB  
Article
Digital Twin Aided Vulnerability Assessment and Risk-Based Maintenance Planning of Bridge Infrastructures Exposed to Extreme Conditions
by Sakdirat Kaewunruen, Jessada Sresakoolchai, Wentao Ma and Olisa Phil-Ebosie
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2051; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042051 - 14 Feb 2021
Cited by 69 | Viewed by 6630
Abstract
Over the past centuries, millions of bridge infrastructures have been constructed globally. Many of those bridges are ageing and exhibit significant potential risks. Frequent risk-based inspection and maintenance management of highway bridges is particularly essential for public safety. At present, most bridges rely [...] Read more.
Over the past centuries, millions of bridge infrastructures have been constructed globally. Many of those bridges are ageing and exhibit significant potential risks. Frequent risk-based inspection and maintenance management of highway bridges is particularly essential for public safety. At present, most bridges rely on manual inspection methods for management. The efficiency is extremely low, causing the risk of bridge deterioration and defects to increase day by day, reducing the load-bearing capacity of bridges, and restricting the normal and safe use of them. At present, the applications of digital twins in the construction industry have gained significant momentum and the industry has gradually entered the information age. In order to obtain and share relevant information, engineers and decision makers have adopted digital twins over the entire life cycle of a project, but their applications are still limited to data sharing and visualization. This study has further demonstrated the unprecedented applications of digital twins to sustainability and vulnerability assessments, which can enable the next generation risk-based inspection and maintenance framework. This study adopts the data obtained from a constructor of Zhongcheng Village Bridge in Zhejiang Province, China as a case study. The applications of digital twins to bridge model establishment, information collection and sharing, data processing, inspection and maintenance planning have been highlighted. Then, the integration of “digital twins (or Building Information Modelling, BIM) + bridge risk inspection model” has been established, which will become a more effective information platform for all stakeholders to mitigate risks and uncertainties of exposure to extreme weather conditions over the entire life cycle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Cost - A Tool for Development of Sustainable Products and Technologies)
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Review

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22 pages, 1671 KiB  
Review
Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Cost Analysis through the Lens of Uncertainty: A Scoping Review
by Zahir Barahmand and Marianne S. Eikeland
Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 12191; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912191 - 26 Sep 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3649
Abstract
Researchers have long been interested in developing new economic assessment methods to provide credible information and facilitate the sustainable development of new technologies and products. The techno-economic analysis (TEA) and the life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) are the most widely used approaches for [...] Read more.
Researchers have long been interested in developing new economic assessment methods to provide credible information and facilitate the sustainable development of new technologies and products. The techno-economic analysis (TEA) and the life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) are the most widely used approaches for modeling and calculating processes’ economic impacts. A simulation-based TEA is a cost-benefit analysis that simultaneously considers technical and economic factors. In addition, the method facilitates the development of the entire project and provides a systematic approach for examining the interrelationships between economic and technological aspects. When it comes to economic studies, it is intimately bonded with uncertainty. There are numerous uncertainty sources, classified in various ways. The uncertainty reflects “an inability to determine the precise value of one or more parameters affecting a system.” The variability refers to the different values a given parameter may take. This implies that a probability density function (PDF), for instance, can be employed to estimate and quantify the variability of a given parameter. The bias refers to “assumptions that skew an analysis in a certain direction while ignoring other legitimate alternatives, factors, or data.” The present study identifies the frequency with which TEA/LCCA studies address uncertainty and gaps within the selected papers through a scoping review. The results indicate that the uncertainty associated with economic factors and model uncertainties were the main sources of uncertainty in TEA and LCCA. Moreover, possibilistic approaches such as the Monte Carlo methodology were the most frequently used tool to cope with the uncertainties associated with LCCA and TEA. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Cost - A Tool for Development of Sustainable Products and Technologies)
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