An ROI-based strategy for implementation of existing and emerging technologies in helicopter manufacturing

An aircraft structure has several part families. These part families are cu rrently manufactured using a baseline technology. There are several other c ompeting technologies, already existing or still in the development stages, that could be applied to the structure under consideration. Each technolog y has a probability distribution of costs and savings (over baseline) assoc iated with it. The problem is to determine which of the candidate technolog ies should be used and to what extent, to manufacture different part famili es. In this paper, we have obtained the optimum time-dependent technology m ix over a finite planning horizon, such that the ROI is maximized. This has been done subject to the constraints that the risk resulting from investme nt in a combination of technologies, does not exceed, in any year, some pre defined quantity, and that the quantity produced using a particular technol ogy does not exceed its applicability in any year.