Cost Calculating of Optoelectronics - An Analysis of Cost Items for a Camera Application used in the Automotive Industry at Volvo Cars Corporation

Abstract

The purpose of the thesis was to define the manufacturing process of a camera application with included optics and its integration with electronics and verify the process information by Volvo Car Corporation’s (VCC’s) cost model and using it to calculate the total product cost. The method used to fulfill the purpose was divided into three phases, understanding the product, creating process maps and performing a cost calculation. By the use of literature studies, observations and interviews, necessary data needed to perform a cost calculation was included in specific process maps. The data was then used as input for VCC’s cost model to calculate the total product cost. By analyzing gathered information using the methods described above, three specific process maps with necessary data were created. These were a process map of lens manufacturing, a process map of lens barrel assembly and a process map of final assembly. When calculating the cost of all the components, the cost of the lenses was estimated using the specific lens manufacturing process. After calculating the cost of all the ingoing components, the cost of the lens barrel assembly was calculated. This cost was then used to calculate the cost of the final assembly with all ingoing components. The results showed that the total product cost was 72 €, the cost distribution showed that the lenses were the most expensive component constituting for approximately 72% of the total product cost. When presenting information about the cost distribution of each process within lens manufacturing, it could be seen that the polishing process was the most costly operation of all. Due to lenses being the most expensive component in the product, it was recommended to do further research within optical manufacturing and to review the product requirements and specification regarding the optical system in order to reduce the total product cost.