Kostenkalkulation im Kontext technischer Produktänderungen

For suppliers, engineering changes have become a key competitive factor. Calculating the price of a project requires information about all the costs that will be incurred during its implementation. This information needs to be available at early stages of the project. Today, there are no valid methods with which to predict the so-called indirect processing costs of engineering changes. Thus, this study addresses the question of how precise predictions of such costs can be made. In doing so, it first develops an explanatory theoretical model, which is subsequently tested using real project data. The model tested forms the basis of the predictive model because it is assumed that prediction and explanation explicitly equate with one another. Next, the study tests the accuracy of the predictive model using unknown test data. In this context, it compares the model to competing methods. The study’s findings will facilitate cost accounting of engineering changes based on practical recommendations.