Methodology for Estimating Total Automotive Manufacturing Costs

PDFTech ReportDOT-TSC-NHTSA-82-08DOT-HS-806 397Automobile industryCostsEstimatingManufacturingUnited StatesUnited States. National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationHathaway, W.Kakatsakis, J.Phillips, C.John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, (U.S.)United States. National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-PLANNING AND POLICYNTL-ECONOMICS AND FINANCE-ECONOMICS AND FINANCENTL-ECONOMICS AND FINANCE-Economic ImpactsVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterA number of methodologies for estimating manufacturing costs have been developed. This report discusses the different approaches and shows that an approach to estimating manufacturing costs in the automobile industry based on surrogate plants is preferred. This method, which specifies the manufacturing processes and plant types required to make a component or a whole vehicle, provides reliable and traceable estimates of manufacturing cost. Examples are used to illustrate this preferred approach