Engineering Economics and Financial Analysis

Catalog description

In this course, money and profit as measures of "goodness" in engineering design are studied. Methods for economic analysis of capital investments are developed and the financial evaluation of machinery, manufacturing processes, buildings, R&D, personnel development, and other long-lived investments is emphasized. Optimization methods and decision analysis techniques are examined to identify economically attractive alternatives. Basic concepts of cost accounting are also covered. Topics include: economics criteria for comparing projects: present worth, annual worth analysis; depreciation and taxation; retirement and replacement; effect of inflation and escalation on economic evaluations; case studies; use of optimization methods to evaluate many alternatives; decision analysis; accounting fundamentals: income and balance sheets; cost accounting. Offered as ECSE 407 and EPOM 407 .