Public Administration ETDs

Publication Date

5-1973

Abstract

There is interest at all levels of government, including the office of the president, to study continually each case to determine whether a large capital investment today could be cost effective in the sense of reducing future operating and maintenance costs. This paper is an effort to provide the government executive, who is responsible for the operating cost in his facility, with concepts and methods by which he may endeavor to achieve a more cost effective operation. Although this paper is limited to the electronic equipment area, the government executive can apply the same approach and techniques to his area of operation. The review presented of the electronics development from times preceding Marconi’s early attempts at radio transmissions to the present art of large scale integration used in modern electronics shows a continuing improvement in electronic equipment reliability. Although people like Fleming and Deforest were pioneers in the vacuum tube development, which was the backbone of electronics up until 1950, the pioneers of today’s technology are people like Bardeen and Brattain, who invented the early point contact transistor, and Shockley, who invented the junction transistor. The manufacturing techniques of the junction transistor led to the later development of integrated circuits. All of these electronic break-throughs were accompanied by improvements in equipment reliability. In addition, the equipment, space, and power requirements were reduced to the point where significant automation could be introduced without increasing space requirements.

The reliability improvements achieved by large scale integration are several orders of magnitude over that of the tube type equipment of the 1940’s. Many managers can attach a cost factor to the improved probability that the equipment will operate without failure during a given operation. This factor, plus savings in maintenance costs and building space, are all factors that contribute to the cost effectiveness of a large capital investment today to reduce tomorrow’s operating budget.

The hypothesis set forth in this study is: Reliability, maintainability, maintenance time, and operating cost can form the basis for a cost effective analysis to determine whether it is practical to modernize an obsolete plant to the current technology.

This paper takes a look at the history of electronics development and the inherent improvements in all areas of operation that accompanied these developments. Suggestions are put forth for the government executive to provide him with guidance in applying this information to the applicable areas of his operation. This is followed by a sample case to demonstrate how the reliability function can be utilized to take advantage of these electronics improvements which have occurred over the past few decades.

The conclusions of this paper take the liberty to project the results of the sample case into the other areas of interest to the government executive. These areas of probability of operation for a given mission support period and space savings versus facility costs are equally important when considering the cost effectiveness of modernizing a facility.

Degree Name

Public Administration

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

School of Public Administration

First Committee Member (Chair)

Albert H. Rosenthal

Second Committee Member

Donald Winston Smithburg

Third Committee Member

Gerald J Boyle

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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