The Department of Mechanical Engineering (MEK) of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has an open PhD position in the field of Product/Service-System Design from a Life Cycle Costing Perspective. The project will involve a number of cases studies together with shipowners in the maritime industry, plus collaboration with a similar PhD project, which will be studying the Life Cycle Environmental perspectives of ships. A core activity of the project will be to build a framework for integrating and modelling user activity data and product life cycle data. 

Responsibilities and tasks
This project will focus on the life cycle costing perspective of ship ownership. Often the notion of total cost of ownership is overseen by the shipowner and sub-optimal solutions are often chosen, seen from a life cycle perspective. It is the overall objective of this PhD project to develop a method to describe the product/service-system (PSS) life cycle of a ship, seen from a life cycle costing perspective. The two main results aimed for with this project will be (i) a method to aid the activity of life cycle costing of a ship, and based on this (ii) a proposal of the main focus areas and types of product/service-system, suitable to reduce the total cost of ownership of ships. The tasks will comprise: 

• Overall analysis of product life cycle data for a ship, based on data from selected shipowners, with respect to the ship’s life cycle and the key activities under operation.
• Description of the life cycle cost of a ship and comparison between various cases.
• Generation and testing of a method to concurrently measure and affect the life cycle cost of a ship, through generation of PSS packages and service level agreements.
• Description of a procedure for the integration of life cycle costing considerations into the PSS procurement process, guiding the specification and selection of total cost oriented operations and product/service partnerships. 

Candidates are expected to be knowledgeable about product/service-systems, product system modelling and complex systems design. Skills in product development, life cycle modelling, statistics and quantitative data analysis will benefit the potential PhD candidate. A high motivation for research, experience with industrial collaboration and excellent communication skills are essential for a successful application. 

Qualifications
Candidates should have a master’s degree in engineering or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to the master’s degree in engineering. 

Application
To apply, please read the full job advertisement at the Apply button below.

Application deadline: 25 October 2013 

DTU Mechanical Engineering covers the fundamental engineering disciplines within Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering, Energetics, Solid Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Control and Engineering Design, Hydrodynamics, Structural Engineering and Materials. It has a scientific staff of about 100 persons, 100 PhD students and a technical/administrative support staff of 80 persons. 

DTU is a technical university providing internationally leading research, education, innovation and public service. Our staff of 5,000 advance science and technology to create innovative solutions that meet the demands of society; and our 9,000 students are educated to address the technological challenges of the future. DTU is an independent academic university collaborating globally with business, industry, government, and public agencies