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2012
Conference Paper
Title
Framework for the valuation of technology established in a manufacturing system
Abstract
The valuation of technologies is necessary in many situations. These vary from companies considering to invest in machinery for the manufacturing of a developed product to the selection of a new production technology in order to fulfil customer demands concerning cost-reduction or quality requirements. The valuation is often difficult, not only because the selection of one specific technology affects the whole manufacturing process chain. Additionally, in the evaluation process as a basis for decision making, multidimensional criteria have to be considered. Due to the variety and number of applied technologies, complexity is embedded in the fundamental nature of technology assessment in manufacturing systems. In the field of technology valuation, many methods and approaches (e.g. scenario-, portfolio- or roadmapping-based planning approaches) exist to support technology management in producing companies. Other valuation techniques intended to determine the value of projects have been adopted for technology valuation, such as relative/market valuations, auctions, cost-based valuations, scoring/ranking methods, discounted cash flow or real options models. However, the determination of the value of a technology against the background of its application within a manufacturing system is difficult. Mostly, the existing methods do not relate evaluation criteria to the objectives of the manufacturing systems. Hence, it is not possible to quantify, measure and assess the consequences of the application of a specific technology and its value contribution to the manufacturing system. Manufacturing managers need a framework for the systematic valuation of technologies in this complex environment in order to support decisions concerning the application, the development and implementation of manufacturing technologies. In this paper we present the current version of the developed framework for the valuation of a technology in manufacturing systems.
Author(s)