Measuring the use of resources in a production process has been a subject under great scrutiny since more than a hundred years ago. Traditionally, costing systems and cost accounting systems have been in charge of such functions in manufacturing corporations. On the other hand, in recent years Lean Manufacturing has become a powerful and popular force for change. A premier tool for process visualization and understanding is Value Stream Mapping, and it focuses primarily in the time dimension of the processes. However, it is clear that the interaction of cost and time is very important. This is felt in everyday occurrences, such as paying interests for credit cards, mortgages and other types of loans. It is intuitive that the longer a certain amount of money is held, the more it costs. Also, if a larger amount of money is held for one day, it will obviously cost more than holding a smaller amount of money. Therefore, cost and time, BOTH, determine the real cost of the use of money. However, this simple perception has not been applied equally to the measurement of manufacturing processes. They usually concentrate on either cost or time, but seldom in both at the same time and their interaction. The Westinghouse corporation formalized the concepts of the Cost-Time Profile in 1993, based on work done there during several decades. Simply put, the Cost-Time Profile measures how much money is invested in the manufacturing process of a product and for how long, creating a chart that presents the accumulated cost at every point in time (Cost-Time Profile) and measuring the area under this curve (Cost-Time Investment), and then using this quantification to measure the bottom line impact. This research has accomplished two main things: the detailed consideration of the Cost-Time Profile (CTP) and the issues and factors that affect it, and the extension of the concepts to the new reality of Extended Enterprises. In a logical sequence, the basic concepts of CTP are defined and presented. Then, the extension of them to Inter-Enterprise environments follows. Successive sections present how to build a CTP and the Inter-Enterprise Cost-Time Profile (IE-CTP), as well as discussing the factors that should be taken into account to bring the IE-CTP to practical applications, such as the effect of batching; the interaction with existing accounting systems; the consideration of direct cost, overhead and profit and the relationships between companies in supply networks to build IE-CTPs. Then the issue of how to improve the results of the Cost-Time Investment (CTI) and CTP is addressed, and schedule optimization models are developed; generic improvement scenarios and lean implementation scenarios are discussed; some simulation studies are presented for cases when this tool has advantages over deterministic tools and an IE-CTP specific software tool is presented. After learning how to improve the CTP and CTI, a discussion about how to use it and implement it is presented, and finally the summary and conclusions close this research report, identifying the contributions presented and leaving open avenues for future research. / Ph. D.

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<p>U okviru disertacije se ispituje uticaj akumulacije troškova u vremenu na izbor odgovarajućih mera za unapređenje i povećanje efikasnosti proizvodnih procesa. Ovaj uticaj je stavljen u kontekst lin proizvodnje i procesa mapiranja toka vrednosti, ali je ispitivan i uticaj izbora pravila raspoređivanja radnih naloga, odnosno terminskog planiranja na vremensko-troškovno ulaganje. Kao rezultat istraživanja i originalan naučni doprinos ove disertacije predloženi su koeficijenti ulaganja i efikasnosti mera unapređenja koji se koriste, na prvom mestu za izbor odgovarajuće mere unapređenja, a zatim i za definisanje prioriteta sprovođenja mera.</p> / <p>This dissertation examines the impact of the cost accumulation over the time on the selection of appropriate measures to improve and increase the efficiency of production processes. This effect has been put into the context of lean production and value stream mapping, but there is also examines the impact of job shop schenduling on cost-time investment. As a result of research and original scientific contribution of this thesis two coefficients are proposed: coefficient of investment and coefficient of measure efficiency that can be used in the first place for the selection of appropriate measure for the improvement, and then to define the priorities for implementing the improvement measures.</p>

The dissertation thesis deals with valuation of individual items in the economic balance sheet of a stand-alone company and subsequently as a part of acquisition. We define the economic balance sheet as a full set of assets, liabilities as well as synergies amongst the assets (stand-alone company view) and companies (transaction view), where the sum of their individual valuations has to equal to the overall value of the company. Hence we suggest that the management (and a valuer) should be able to decompose the company value into defined and controllable value components. Apart from identifying optimal methods for the individual valuation, the key for achieving this task is the internal (amongst the assets) as well as the overall consistency (vis-a-vis the overall company value). Compared to the overall-valuation approach, we demonstrate how the component approach can lead to more precise results, higher management discipline and accountability, and can serve as a tool for an a priori identification of overpayment as well as an instrument for controlling the value post transaction. We defined two primary types of synergies in terms of valuation approach - Enhancement, improving current income potential and Future opportunities, mainly focusing on new projects - and proposed appropriate valuation approaches given their specifics. Since a large proportion of valuations on individual level is based on the income approach, setting a clear and consistent approach to discount rates was a vital part of the work. We propose a primary and, if not available, second-best rate for each component of the economic balance sheet. Although the synergies are probably of the highest commercial interest, the liabilities with external source of risk and deferred taxes on the individual level are areas generally neglected both by academics and practitioners. While the first one will have only but crucial impact on companies with decommissioning and similar liabilities, the latter is present almost in any itemized valuation, and its incorrect or purely isolated application affects the overall result and breaks the link to the overall company value. We analyze both topics and offer consistent valuation methods, although further research is required to refine them. We discuss WARA as one of the key tools for ensuring consistency of itemized valuation of the economic balance sheet. Lacking any theoretical background and interest from academic researchers, we first analyze simple concepts of the tool as they are used in practice and point out observed conceptual errors, oversimplifications and accounting-only approach. Not only that we propose complex consistent rules for WARA construction but we extend the concept from the focus on conventionally defined net assets to the full economic balance sheet, which is the only way how to relate the itemized valuation to the overall company valuation. Finally, we presented a case study based on real-life example which demonstrated practical applicability of proposed partial solutions as well as the overall approach to achieving consistency with the total company or transaction valuation. Although the analysis of individual items of the economic balance will be inevitably based on subjective assumptions to an extent, we have shown that proposed complex and consistent approach adds value to the strategic and transaction considerations. Also the preciseness of the tools will increase with the number of transactions performed as the parameters get calibrated.