Economic impact dynamics of complex engineering project scheduling

The authors show how scheduling of complex multiprocess manufacturing or construction operations can be examined in an interindustry framework for its impact dynamics on a national or regional economy. The technical coefficients of the static Leontief input-output model are replaced by time-phased input coefficients containing additional information on the timing of industry inputs with respect to product completion. Coupling engineering project scheduling methods, such as the critical path method (CPM), to SIM (sequential interindustry model) allows the investigation of two distinct engineering-economic issues. The first involves the development of the time-phased input coefficients themselves. The second involves computation, by SIM, of the dynamic economic impact of large, complex, and lengthy production, construction, and related macroengineering undertakings. The resulting total economic impact chronology is determined by the interaction of payment schedules with the regional and national economies, consisting of industries that are themselves described through time-phased input coefficients. >