Capital Budgeting Methods Are Not Enough : Justification of Factory Automation Projects

공장자동화 사업의 투자 정당성 분석, 경제성 분석만으로 충분한가\ulcorner

To date, the implementation and adoption of new manufacturing technologies has been retarded despite their technical advances and strategic virtues such as flexibility and synergy effect. This phenomenon is partly attributable to the lack of commensurate development and widespread dissemination of adequate selection and justification procedures. Many strategically vital automation projects have been rejected and/or seemingly promising proposals have turned out to be fiascos since the justification process has been solely based on the traditional capital budgeting or engineering economy methods. As the degree of system automation/integration increases, a variety of benefit/cost attributes, both quantitative and qualitative, should be taken into account and more comprehensive and analytic justification methods should be applied in the justification process. This paper points out the distinct characteristics of advanced technologies and presents an illustrative set of procedures that can be used in the justification process. It outlines the algorithmic structure of each procedure and also describes the advantages/disadvantages of each procedure and the conditions under which it is most appropriate to employ. The selection of appropriate justification technique is situation-specific. In general, it is recommended that more complex and sophisticated procedures be used as the degree of integration increases. Nonetheless, traditional procedures may be used as well to make in-depth analyses of the local impact.