&quotMeeting the ageing aircraft challenge&quot is not just about safety, not just about effectiveness, and not just about economy of support. It is about proactive and reactive optimization of all three service goals throughout long life cycles that span 20 or 30 years, or more, and typically, beyond the originally intended design life. It is therefore about organizational attitudes towards ongoing trend analysis and condition monitoring, and pervading cost benefit assessments of all forms of human innovation across what the author describes as 'the eight sustaining disciplines for long aerospace life cycles', including scientific and technological developments, and opportunities for reliability growth or 'refresh'. Complacency is the root cause of all problems with the design, maintenance and support of all modern infrastructure, and therefore life cycle planners and minders are required to be an enthusiastic but nervous lot - always hoping for the best, but planning for the worst impact of 'Mr Murphy'. Murphy thrives on complacency, is in bed with uncertainty, and never forgets (as we do often) that imperfection (no matter how small) breeds unreliability traps that patiently wait to surprise at some stage along the life cycle journey. He has the upper hand. ...Our best weapons against Murphy are continual, total picture and longer-term situational awareness; caution, vigilance, innovation and collaboration. This research study and thesis is intended as a broad and comprehensive management philosophy, a guide and checklist - a broad scrape of everything 'so deep', rather than coverage of any one-niche aspect of the ageing aircraft challenge in great depth. It includes a brief and simple strategic setting for Australian Military Aerospace requirements, and spans a three axes management philosophy: 1. a toolbox of eight sustaining disciplines, 2. trend analysis and 3. time-cost-benefit assessment. Along with complacency, the prime ageing aircraft 'killers' are identified, as are the key ageing aircraft 'age multipliers'. The eight sustaining disciplines are explained in varying depth, according to their broad significance to the ageing aircraft condition and life cycle. The ever-ubiquitous bathtub reliability curve - the key to understanding, predicting and controlling life cycle behaviour (including costs) - is emphasized. Engineering life cycle minding and capability management are broad focus areas. The eight areas of attention identified for this broad study are: 1. Aerospace design requirements and trends, 2. Science and technology opportunities, 3. Airworthiness, engineering and maintenance philosophy, 4. Reliability behaviour, 5. Operational use and abuse patterns, 6. Logistics support and managing obsolescence, 7. Technical workforce and organizational attitudes (requirements and outlook), and 8. Life cycle costing and budgeting. This thesis primarily draws attention to the fundamental driver of life cycle behaviour - reliability. The critical dependency that life cycle control and prediction has on consistent and high quality trend data collection and analysis is emphasized throughout, and the now pressing need for better identification of ageing aircraft cost growth drivers, and their containment, is linked to reliability trend awareness, manipulation and intervention. The human dimension is included - including coverage of organizational attitudes and what it takes to be a 'high reliability organization'. There are no magic or easy answers to the ageing aircraft condition and challenge. Trend analysis has to be done from the bottom up, system by system, for each fleet type. But over time, with consistent trend data collection, patterns emerge within the sophisticated and stochastic systems behaviour that that ageing aircraft play out. These patterns enable ongoing management of the long life cycle to be more confidently predicted, more assured and with best possible cost growth containment. The best, perhaps only, path to least surprises and best cost containment is now being re-identified in some military aviation organizations as a mature and evolving RAM engineering and RCM framework. RAM-RCM may well be the only recovery from what some admit is a death spiral of ageing aircraft cost growth.

半導體產業在近二十年來一直在我國經濟發展舞台上扮演積極重要的角色，其績效自然是研究者欲探索之重點。在管理會計頗有作用的作業制成本制度，其提供不同於以往傳統成本制度之資訊，在在替全球知名企業創造更具優勢的管理績效。本研究之重心即在：以深入訪談及田野實證研究方式探討半導體公司導入作業制成本制度後，所發生的績效變化、變化時間與相關資訊，用實證資料檢視作業制成本制度與公司實際經營績效之間的關係，為作業制成本制度在企業之成效作一較為完整且具實務運用的描述，進而提供後續推行作業制成本制度之研究價值，並給予實務界導入作業制成本制度之相關資訊，以作為我國企業推動作業制成本管理制度之參考。 　　本研究以田野實證之資料為主，並以迴歸方式驗證作業制成本資訊釋出前後對企業生產成本與品質之影響，實證結果顯示成本會隨資訊釋出而降低，品質則不會有所變化，表示作業制成本制度確實可以幫助管理者從事成本抑減之工作；也得到品質不會在短期內改善之結論，暗示作業制成本制度之財務績效先於品質績效，資訊使用者之熟練程度差異可能影響績效之出現與否。 　　基於研究所得結論，本研究建議個案公司可以將成本下降之經驗擴散至全廠區，藉由新制度教育員工成本與獲利觀念，並針對員工之使用感想修正個案公司之作業制成本制度。同時也建議未來的研究者，對品質與作業制成本制度甚至成本之關係，作更進一步之研究。 / Using field study method, this study focuses on the relationship between the manufacturing performance of the semi-conductor industry and activity-based costing system information. The analysis suggests that with better decision based on activity and cost driver information, the actvity-based costing information will reduce manufacturing costs while leave quality unchanged. 　　In conclusion, empirical results reveal that manufacturing costs actually decrease with the release of activity-based costing information, while manufacturing quality remains the same. The finding shows that the release of activity-based costing information can reduce the manufacturing costs, but there may not be an immediate effect of quality improvement, suggesting that cost can actually be improved by the activity-based costing system, and quality may need more time and skill toward activity-based costing to change.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2011 Aug 11

El objetivo principal de esta tesis ha consistido en Desarrollar una propuesta de implantación del ABC al sector hotelero. También se ha perseguido revisar los sistemas de costes aplicados al sector hotelero para superar los inconvenientes que presentan, mejorar la comprensión del ABC orientado a las empresas de servicios y exponer una revisión de las últimas tendencias en la investigación sobre el ABC.La estructura de esta tesis es la siguiente. Tras una breve introducción, se estudian en el primer capítulo la evolución y las fuentes doctrinales del ABC. El segundo capítulo se dedica al análisis de la viabilidad del sistema ABC en empresas de servicios. Se han revisado distintas publicaciones al respecto sobre casos tan diversos como los referidos a ferrocarriles, hospitales, bancos, empresas financieras, comunicaciones, compañías de seguros, etc.En el tercer capítulo se estudia el sector turístico y las particularidades de la empresa hotelera, revisando las publicaciones de estudios de costes más destacados relacionados con la misma y de estudios de ABC en hoteles. En los capítulos cuarto y quinto se han desarrollado la aplicación práctica del sistema ABC en una empresa hotelera real mediante el método del caso. Primero se exponen las fases de la implantación llevadas a cabo en relación con la identificación, codificación y análisis de las actividades realizadas en los distintos procesos de la empresa. Se han elaborado los mapas y el diccionario de las actividades. Se ha realizado la fase de racionalización de las mismas con el fin de agregarlas o desglosarlas según convenga. Después se han analizado todos los elementos de coste consumidos en la empresa, determinando después el coste de las actividades y de los servicios y productos. También se calculan los resultados obtenidos en la organización. Las conclusiones alcanzadas están relacionadas con el sistema ABC en general y con la aplicación del mismo al sector hotelero. Entre ellas remarcamos el hecho de haber comprobado que el ABC es aplicable a empresas de servicios y, en especial a las hoteleras, al menos en el caso estudiado y de haber constatado que es crucial tener en cuenta el factor humano (trabajadores, dirección, equipo del proyecto) en el proceso de aplicación del ABC. / The primary target of this thesis has consisted of Developing a proposal of implantation of the ABC to the hotel sector. Also it has been persecuted to review the systems of costs applied to the hotel sector to surpass the disadvantages that present/display, of improving the understanding of the ABC oriented to the companies of services and to expose a revision of the last tendencies in the investigation on the ABC. The structure of this thesis is the following one. After a brief introduction, the evolution and the doctrinales sources of the ABC have been studied in the first chapter. The second chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the viability of the ABC system in companies of services. Different publications have been reviewed on the matter on as diverse cases as the railroad referred ones, hospitals, banks, financial companies, communications, insurance agencies, etc. In the third chapter, the tourist sector and the particularitities of the hotel companies have been studied, reviewing publications of studies of more outstanding costs related to the same one and of ABC studies in hotels.In the chapters fourth and fifth the practical application of the ABC system in real a hotel company has been developed by means of the case method. First the carried out phases of the implantation in relation to the identification, codification and analysis of the made activities in the different processes from the company are exposed. The maps and the dictionary of the activities have been elaborated. The phase of their rationalization has been made. Later all the elements of cost consumed in the company have been analyzed, determining after this the cost of the activities and the services and products. Also the results obtained in the organization have been calculated. The reached conclusions are related to the ABC system in general and its application to the hotel sector. Among them we emphasizes the fact of to have verified that the ABC is applicable to companies of services and, in special to the hotel case studied and to have stated at least that is crucial to consider the human factor (workers, direction, equipment of the project) in the process of application of the ABC.

No description available.

This study explores the applicability of the top-down target costing (TC) method in the Taiwan real estate development industry by considering one new element ¡V creating buyer¡¦s perceived product value. The top-down method determines the target costs by subtracting target profit from less controllable sales price. It has been extensively studied in the context of assembly manufacturing industries. On the other hand, the real estate developers produce more heterogeneous products in monopolistically competitive market conditions. In order to adapt to this different user group, TC as an accounting and strategic management tool is expected to have unique characteristics once adopted in the real estate development industry. This study adopts a descriptive research design. By presenting evidences gathered from six real estate development firms it sheds lights on how the creation of buyer¡¦s perceived product value can be embedded into the target costing mechanism. By examining nine propositions, the study confirms the modified TC model is effective in stabilizing profits due to its focus on creating buyer¡¦s perceived product value. The contributing factors include the ability to charge premium prices as well as effective cost reductions. The findings revealed three unique characteristics of real estate development industry which may influence the adoption of TC model. Firstly, due to stronger bargaining power of the buyers and land owners as well as low entry barriers, the users of TC framework strive towards providing added product value higher than the product price in order to sustainably charge premium prices. It supplements the traditional accounting and strategic management literature in which expected profit margins were primarily achieved by managing costs. The study also reveals that the TC framework is more compatible with the differentiator and confrontational marketing strategies in real estate development industry. Secondly, the modified TC framework may better facilitate firms¡¦ profitability objectives especially during economic recessions. Thirdly, TC is more applicable at preliminary stages of product planning e.g. land investigation, but is less effective for component- level cost management due to certain market and operational limitations. Given the different needs of the property developers, the adaptation of the top-down target costing model in Taiwan real estate development industry is characterized by emphasizing on the creation of the buyer¡¦s perceived product value, as opposed to a pure cost focus in previous target costing literatures.

Target costing is widely accepted across the automobile manufacturing industries such as the Toyota Corporation followed by other manufacturing companies such as Nissan, Chrysler, Boeing, Sony, etc. However, its use in the construction industry has been limited. The application of target costing in the construction industry has been referred to as Target Value Design (TVD), which forms an important fragment of the whole lean delivery system, Integrated Project Delivery. For the purpose of studying the team dynamics and the impact of cost on aesthetics, this research is split in to the following two parts. 1. Conducting simple experiments /simulations with students, such as designing and building a product to target cost to explore the impact of cost on the design of the product and the team dynamics. 2. Exploring the challenges faced by the teams while working on TVD through literature review and Focus Group Interviews with construction industry professionals with experience in the TVD process. Similar to other lean simulations like the airplane game and the dice game, aimed at demonstrating the impact of lean, this simulation of designing a two feet (2’) tall wine glass holder with materials such as paper, Styrofoam plates, cups etc. is an attempt to understand the challenges of designing to target cost process. The simulation conducted is to mirror the real world TVD process. Results of the experiment conclude that cost does not have a negative influence on the design. There is no correlation between the high costs and better design, that is, the most expensive solutions are not always the best solutions. However, correlation existed between the target cost and the design aesthetics. Indeed, cost as a constraint aided the team in focusing on the design and developing solutions within the project constraints. The results of the experiment are similar to the practice of the TVD in reality as case studies and interviews arrive at similar conclusions. Finally, the experiment depicted that collaborating and working in a team might result in arguments but generates competitive design solutions without affecting the team dynamics. The research is of significance to construction industry professionals and owners to investigate the challenges and implications of implementing target costing in designing to target cost.

To face hyper-competitive environment, effective control on cost as a niche is the most important issue to business. However, properly allocation and compute accuracy on cost in the process of valid control is a major prerequisite. Therefore, how to decline variation on cost allocation through straight apportion which plays a key role on fully adequately cost. The Activity-Based Costing system¡]ABC system¡^ provides the major function properly for cost principle. The ABC system is not only making cost information efficiently but also assist Chief Executive Officer¡]CEO¡^ to make decision adequately under vary from minute to minute environment. This essay is focus on heavy machinery company as a subject through operation process analysis and responsibility center as a performance evaluation basis try to solve the currently problem that existed at responsibility center. Moreover, to seek out a proper costing amendments and allocation method for the case company after study that can enhance information quality for management on decision-making. Non-direct cost allocation to the case company declines during Activity-Based Costing System as a main shaft to adjust cost collective method. In the meanwhile, advance the costing accuracy makes management to get legitimate information is the most significant contribution to subject company.

In 2002 the Legislative Tuan promulgated the ¡§Charges Law.¡¨ Undoubtedly this has empowered county and city governments to levy charges/fees. Kaohsiung City Government has thus commissioned us to reexamine the reasonableness of the charges system of Kaohsiung city and study how to enhance the levy of charges, through investigating user charges/user fees, Activity Based Costing, and the charges system of counties and cities. This would increase the revenues of Kaohsiung city and comply with the Charges Law requiring local governments to periodically examine and adjust the regulations on charges. The study has found: (1) The fees charged by Kaohsiung City government agencies for city service can be increased. (2) Fewer than 30% of agencies of Kaohsiung City government as well as other county and city governments charge fees that are permitted by local ordinances and regulations. (3) Kaohsiung City has less revenues derived from levying charges than does Taipei City, primarily because the latter has more high rate, more people using public services and facilities and charges new fees. (4) As indicated by questionnaire survey, government agencies for citizen service of Kaohsiung City are not eager to adjust charges or levy new fees in the future. This study suggests Kaohsiung City to adjust charges and levy new fees in consideration of the distinctive conditions of city, by abiding by the ¡§equal, fair¡¨ principle, and by referring to other county and city governments in this regard.

Thesis (M.S.)--Air Force Institute of Technology, 2003. / Title from title screen (viewed May 10, 2004). "March 2003." Vita. "AFIT/GAQ/ENS/03-02." "ADA413132"--URL. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-135). Also issued in paper format.