ENGINEERING ECONOMY CASES

This note extends the Initial partial-mean concept for present worth analysis of risk by Buck and Askin (1986) to a two random variable case where the magnitude of a single cash flow Is a random variable, and the time duration is a random variable with uniform distribution. This extension leads to the calculation of the expected magnitude of a project loss given that the loss occurs. Computational formulas and numerical Illustrations are presented.     

AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ENGINEERING ECONOMY PEDAGOGY

This work presents the results of a recent two-part survey of how engineering economy is taught in U.S. universities. A mail and email survey of faculty and staff that teach engineering economy was conducted in 1995 through 1997. For the survey's two parts, this produced 45 and 28 complete responses, respectively. Three categories of questions were asked pertainingto 1) the faculty that teach it, 2) the course content and mechanics itself, and 3) the students that take the course. This paper also includes results from a previously unpublished survey done in 1989. All of these results are compared with two similar studies done in 1984 and 1989. Potential pedagogical implications are summarized as they relate to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of engineering economy teaching in U.S. universities.     

A VIRTUAL CLASSROOM EXPERIMENT FOR TEACHING ENGINEERING ECONOMY

The productivity of a two-station production line is determined by the station breakdown and repair rates, and by the capacity of the lncerscaclon buffer. A model which describes the station breakdown and repair rates as functions of the maintenance and repair inputs to the system la presented.The production function is Incorporated Into a profit function. The values of maintenance, repair, and an aggregate materials-labor inputs aa well as the capacity of the interstation buffer which maximize profit are sought.     

MINUTES OF THE 2004 IIE ENGINEERING ECONOMY DIVISION BUSINESS MEETING

Destruction from natural and man-made disasters can result in extensive damage to the affected area's infrastructure. While the destruction results in costs that are necessary to restore the physical destruction and repair of existing infrastructure, a wider economic impact is often indirectly measured and felt. Policy-makers generally focus only on losses that are directly caused by the destruction, such as the replacement of roads and bridges, yet tend to overlook the consequences from indirect economic losses. This study proposes a framework to estimate the indirect economic loss due to damaged bridges within the highway system of a major metropolitan area. For the research, a simulated earthquake within the St. Louis metropolitan region is selected as a case study. The computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is applied as the loss estimation tool for modeling the indirect cost. The study results show that the indirect loss is significant when compared to the direct loss and should therefore be considered by policy-makers when making both pre- and post-disaster infrastructure decisions.