In automotive structural applications, material selection is a critical factor in addressing cost. Data from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study Process Cost Modelling: Strategic Engineering-Economic Evaluation of Materials Technologies and related cost models (soon available at this website) identify competitive materials, such as aluminium, to be at a significant cost disadvantage for all aspects of the body-in-white manufacturing process.

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Frank Field, Randolph Kirchain, and Richard Roth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reprinted here by permission of the Journal of Manufacturing, summarizes the conceptual limitations in understanding cost that need to be overcome

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