Engineering Economy

Chapter 6: Comparison and Selection Among

Alternatives
 The objective of chapter 6 is to
evaluate correctly capital
investment alternatives when the
time value of money is a key
influence.
 Making decisions means
comparing alternatives.
• In this chapter we examine feasible design alternatives.
• The decisions considered are those selecting from among a
set of mutually exclusive alternatives—when selecting one
excludes the choice of any of the others.
 Mutually exclusive alternatives
(MEAs)
• We examine these on the basis of economic
considerations alone.
• The alternatives may have different initial
investments and their annual revenues and costs
may vary.
• The alternatives must provide comparable
“usefulness”: performance, quality, etc.
• The basic methods from chapter 5 provide the
basis for economic comparison of the alternatives.
 Apply this rule, based on
Principle 2 from Chapter 1.
The alternative that requires the minimum investment of
capital and produces satisfactory functional results will be
chosen unless the incremental capital associated with an
alternative having a larger investment can be justified with
respect to its incremental benefits. This alternative is the base
alternative.
 For alternatives that have a larger
investment than the base…
If the extra benefits obtained by investing additional capital
are better than those that could be obtained from investment
of the same capital elsewhere in the company at the MARR,
the investment should be made.

(Please note that there are some cautions when considering more than two
alternatives, which will be examined later.)
 There are two basic types of
alternatives.
Investment Alternatives
Those with initial (or front-end) capital investment that produces
positive cash flows from increased revenue, savings through reduced
costs, or both.
Cost Alternatives
Those with all negative cash flows, except for a possible positive cash
flow from disposal of assets at the end of the project’s useful life.
 Select the alternative that gives
you the most money!
• For investment alternatives the PW of all cash flows
must be positive, at the MARR, to be attractive. Select
the alternative with the largest PW.
• For cost alternatives the PW of all cash flows will be
negative. Select the alternative with the largest
(smallest in absolute value) PW.
 Investment alternative example
Use a MARR of 10% and useful life of 5 years to select
between the investment alternatives below.
Alternative
A B
Capital investment -$100,000 -$125,000
Annual revenues less expenses $34,000 $41,000

Both alternatives are attractive, but Alternative B provides

a greater present worth, so is better economically.
 Cost alternative example
Use a MARR of 12% and useful life of 4 years to select
between the cost alternatives below.
Alternative
C D
Capital investment -$80,000 -$60,000
Annual expenses -$25,000 -$30,000

Alternative D costs less than Alternative C, it has a greater

PW, so is better economically.
 Pause and solve
Your local foundry is adding a new furnace. There are several different styles
and types of furnaces, so the foundry must select from among a set of
mutually exclusive alternatives. Initial capital investment and annual
expenses for each alternative are given in the table below. None have any
market value at the end of its useful life. Using a MARR of 15%, which
furnace should be chosen?

Furnace
F1 F2 F3
Investment $110,000 $125,000 $138,000
Useful life 10 years 10 years 10 years
Total annual expenses $53,800 $51,625 $45,033
 Determining the study period.
• A study period (or planning horizon) is the time period over
which MEAs are compared, and it must be appropriate for the
decision situation.
• MEAs can have equal lives (in which case the study period
used is these equal lives), or they can have unequal lives, and at
least one does not match the study period.
• The equal life case is straightforward, and was used in the
previous two examples.
 Unequal lives are handled in one
of two ways.
• Repeatability assumption
– The study period is either indefinitely long or equal to a common multiple
of the lives of the MEAs.
– The economic consequences expected during the MEAs’ life spans will
also happen in succeeding life spans (replacements).
• Coterminated assumption: uses a finite and identical study period
for all MEAs. Cash flow adjustments may be made to satisfy
alternative performance needs over the study period.
Comparing MEAs with equal lives.
When lives are equal adjustments to cash flows are not
required. The MEAs can be compared by directly comparing
their equivalent worth (PW, FW, or AW) calculated using the
MARR. The decision will be the same regardless of the
equivalent worth method you use. For a MARR of 12%, select
from among the MEAs below.
Alternatives
A B C D
Capital investment -$150,000 -$85,000 -$75,000 -$120,000
Annual revenues $28,000 $16,000 $15,000 $22,000
Annual expenses -$1,000 -$550 -$500 -$700
Market Value (EOL) $20,000 $10,000 $6,000 $11,000
Life (years) 10 10 10 10
 Selecting the best alternative.
Present worth analysis → select Alternative A (but C is close).

Annual worth analysis—the decision is the same.

 Using rates of return is another
way to compare alternatives.
• The return on investment (rate of return) is a popular
measure of investment performance.
• Selecting the alternative with the largest rate of return can
lead to incorrect decisions—do not compare the IRR of
one alternative to the IRR of another alternative. The only
legitimate comparison is the IRR to the MARR.
• Remember, the base alternative must be attractive (rate of
return greater than the MARR), and the additional
investment in other alternatives must itself make a
satisfactory rate of return on that increment.
 Use the incremental investment
analysis procedure.
• Arrange (rank order) the feasible alternatives based on increasing
capital investment.
• Establish a base alternative.
– Cost alternatives—the first alternative is the base.
– Investment alternatives—the first acceptable alternative (IRR>MARR) is the
base.
• Iteratively evaluate differences (incremental cash flows) between
alternatives until all have been considered.
Evaluating incremental cash flows
• Work up the order of ranked alternatives smallest to
largest.
• Subtract cash flows of the lower ranked alternative from
the higher ranked.
• Determine if the incremental initial investment in the
higher ranked alternative is attractive (e.g., IRR>MARR,
PW, FW, AW all >0). If it is attractive, it is the “winner.”
If not, the lower ranked alternative is the “winner.” The
“loser” from this comparison is removed from
consideration. Continue until all alternatives have been
considered.
• This works for both cost and investment alternatives.
 Incremental analysis
Alt. A Alt. B Alt. B-Alt. A
Initial cost -$25,000 -$35,000 -$10,000
Net annual income $7,500 $10,200 $3,200
IRR on total cash flow 15% 14% 11%

Which is preferred using a 5 year study period and MARR=10%?

Both alternatives A and B are acceptable—each one has a rate of return
that exceeds the MARR. Choosing Alternative A because of its larger
IRR would be an incorrect decision. By examining the incremental cash
flows we see that the extra amount invested in Alternative B earns a
return that exceeds the IRR—so B is preferred to A. Also note…
 Pause and solve
Acme Molding is examining 5 alternatives for a piece of
material handling equipment. Each has an expected life of 8
years with no salvage value, and Acme’s MARR is 12%.
Using an incremental analysis, which material handling
alternative should be chosen? The table below includes
initial investment, net annual income, and IRR for each
alternative.
Alternative
A B C D E
Capital $12,000 $12,500 $14,400 $16,250 $20,000
investment
Net annual $2,500 $2,520 $3,050 $3,620 $4,400
income
IRR 12.99% 12.04% 13.48% 14.99% 14.61%
 Comparing MEAs with unequal lives.
• The repeatability assumption, when
applicable, simplified comparison of
alternatives.
• If repeatability cannot be used, an
appropriate study period must be selected
(the coterminated assumption). This is most
often used in engineering practice because
product life cycles are becoming shorter.
The useful life of an alternative is
greater than the study period.
• Truncate the alternative at the end of the
study period, using an estimated market
value.
• The underlying principle in all such analysis
is to compare the MEAs in a decision
situation over the same study (analysis)
period.
 Equivalent worth methods can be
used for MEAs with unequal lives.
• If repeatability can be assumed, the MEAs
are most easily compared by finding the
annual worth (AW) of each alternative over
its own useful life, and recommending the
one having the most economical value.
• For cotermination, use any equivalent worth
method using the cash flows available for
the study period.
We can use incremental rate of return
analysis on MEAs with unequal lives.
Equate the MEAs annual worths (AW) over their
respective lives.
A B
Capital Investment $3,500 $5,000
Annual Cash Flow $1,255 $1,480
Useful Live (years) 4 6

Solving, we find i*=26%, so Alt B is preferred.