| Nonwoven manufacturers operate in a highly competitive environment, where the reduction of production costs is of strategic imperative to stay in business. While the understanding and estimation of the production costs of nonwovens are very important, a literature review revealed a lack of published research in this field, available in the public domain. To fill the gap, this study is designed to lay the foundation for cost modeling and analysis of nonwoven products and process. The first purpose of the research was to develop a detailed, bottom-up cost model for the spunbond process. This cost model was further used to investigate the influence of product and process related factors on the production cost of calendered spunbond nonwovens. This analysis revealed the cost behavior and cost breakdown structure, as well as insight into the most important cost drivers. In addition, the cost model was utilized to assess the effect of uncertainty in input parameters on the product cost. The second purpose of the study was to develop a generic framework that can be applied to other nonwoven manufacturing technologies. The resulting framework describes the major steps required to define production parameters, resource requirements and then to relate these variables to the cost of the process itself and the resulting cost of the final product. |
