A product lifecycle costing system with imprecise end-of-life data

Abstract

The paper deals with a framework of the product lifecycle costing system, with an emphasis on cost estimating, for supporting decision making, especially the decision making on EOL strategy. In particular, the imprecise EOL data given in forms of interval, due to the lack of knowledge or the ordinary ambiguity of design in the early stage, is taken into consideration. In order to deal with interval data, the robust deviation criterion is applied to obtain a robust product design alternatives with the objective of optimizing the overall product lifecycle costs. It will give a conservative estimation of product lifecycle costs with the corresponding processes through its lifecycle. Consequently, it can be used as a design support tool to help new product development.