The project�s aim to calculate mould and product costs in an integrated manner deals with two very distinctive production environments. On the one hand there is the single unit production character that prevails in mould making, on the other hand the injection moulding of plastic products is a classical mass production.
As a result of this project a methodology will be conceived that features two main characteristics. The calculation approach is process-cost based and for each process step a definite amount of time to be consumed will be computed. In addition, several aspects of the mould to be built cannot be described objectively. In order to meet this challenge of describing technical difficulties numerically, a set of complexity key values was set up and introduced into the formulas for the process step times.
The transposition of the methodology to other industrial sectors (e.g. production of deep-draw moulds, casting moulds etc.), where single unit calculation also influences mass production, only requires industry-specific customisation.
Critical success factors for this methodology are its simple applicability to the industrial practice and the fact that it reproduces the classical way of performing mould quotations without relying on individual persons.
More information on the Integrated Mould and Product Calculation (IMPC) -project can be found at http://www.impc.rwth-aachen.de