A study into the concept and practice of terotechnology and life-cycle costing as applied to manufacturing industry

The Atkinson Committee for Terotechnology found that it was hampered in its task of making recommendations to the Secretary of State for Industry due to the lack of research and information regarding the application, by manufacturing industry, of terotechnological practices. It was this lack of research and information which provided a major justification for pursuing this research work. This research has attempted to provide a contribution to our knowledge in the fields of terotechnology and life-cycle costing. This has been achieved by investigating the historical development of terotechnology, examining the way in which the concept should be interpreted, developing a 'levels-of-care' model and, by industrial field research, examining the extent to which . terotechnological practices, as defined within this dissertation, have been applied by manufacturing industry. The field work was based on a sample of six manufacturing organisations in which detailed research was undertaken. A further sixteen organisations were visited to obtain a more general and wider view of application. The comparative organisational analysis, was based on the differences observed due to differing levels of production system mechanisation. The results of the field research are presented and comparisons made, to the limited extent possible, with the findings of other work. A major part of the terotechnological approach to physical asset life-cycle management is based on the comparative economic evaluation of assets over their life-cycles. Life-cycle costing is a quantitative economic evaluation technique which can be used for such comparisons. The historical development of life-cycle costing has been determined. A postal questionnaire survey,of experienced practitioners in the United States and Sweden, was undertaken to determine the general body of knowledge and experience required to utilise the technique.The results of the survey are presented. One of the major constraints on the application of life-cycle costing has been the lack of any procedural model to facilitate such application within manufacturing industry. This research has conceived and developed such a procedural model. An example of the application of the model,based on real data, is presented. Future developments in the concept and practice of terotechnology and life-cycle costing are postulated. Suggestions for further research work are outlined.