Utveckling av en TCO- och MCDA-baserad utvärderingsmodell för offertutvärdering av kapitaliserad utrustning

Sammanfattning

Procurement of capitalized technical equipment often involves substantial costs and long-term consequences for operation and maintenance. Despite this, the study shows that supplier offer evaluation is often based on purchase price and technical requirements. This may limit the understanding of the total cost picture over the equipment’s lifetime. The purpose of this study was to analyze how supplier offer evaluation of capitalized equipment can be carried out from a life-cycle perspective and to develop a structured and practically applicable TCO-based evaluation model. The study was conducted as a design-oriented case study in collaboration with VAROPreem. Data were collected through a literature review, document studies, observations, and semi- structured interviews with representatives from both procurement and technical roles. Based on the theoretical and empirical findings, an evaluation model was developed in Microsoft Excel and tested and validated using historical supplier offers. The results showed that Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can contribute to a more structured and transparent evaluation process by providing a clearer picture of the costs that arise throughout the equipment’s life cycle. At the same time, limitations were identified related to data availability, uncertainty in future costs, and difficulties in quantifying factors such as technical robustness and production impact. The analysis also showed that certain cost factors are influenced by the equipment’s role in the integrated system, meaning that the same supplier alternative may result in different cost outcomes depending on the specific operating environment. To address these challenges, an integrated model combining TCO and Multi- Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) was developed. The model enables both cost-related and qualitative criteria to be assessed in a combined evaluation. Production loss was identified as a potentially significant cost component. At the same time, the results showed that when the available data is limited or uncertain, reliable cost calculations become difficult. The results therefore indicate that, in such cases, production loss should be addressed through scenario-based sensitivity analysis and technical expert judgement, rather than being included as a standard parameter in the TCO calculation. In summary, the study shows that TCO provides an important foundation for supplier offer evaluation, but that the method is not sufficient as a standalone decision-support tool. Practical application requires complementary assessments of qualitative criteria and uncertain cost effects. The developed model strengthens the evaluation process by creating a more structured, transparent, and comparable decision basis for evaluating supplier offers in complex industrial procurement situations.