The future of cost engineering: six trends you should know about

Both political and societal expectations and mega-trends challenge the industry considerably. To meet these challenges and remain competitive, professional cost management is essential. What exactly is cost engineering anyway? What benefits does it bring? And what methods can companies use to make their cost engineering fit for the future?  

Professional cost engineering offers the following advantages:

• Calculation and control of costs
• Competitiveness
• Rapid decision-making
• Risk management
• Sustainability
• Resource optimisation
• Project management
• Objectification of negotiations
• Maximising customer value

How to overcome future challenges

In addition to the general goal of avoiding or containing costs in the value chain, factors such as environmental friendliness and sustainability are becoming increasingly important. First and foremost: CO₂ emissions in manufacturing, including raw materials... The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which has been in force since October 2023, is particularly relevant for manufacturing companies.

No less challenging is the increasing lack of human resources. There is already a noticeable lack of qualified specialists with the necessary know-how. 

What trends await the world of cost engineering?

These challenges require rethinking and action in many areas of cost engineering. We have identified six major trends that will shape the industry in the future:

1. Transparency of costs in supply chains: Due to increasing regulations, companies are paying more attention to analysing production costs and risks in their supply chains. This helps to identify inefficient processes.
   
2. Digitalisation and automation: the integration of digital technologies enables more precise calculations, cost analyses and forecasts. Processes are accelerated through automation of data collection and processing, and efficiency is increased through low error rates.
   
3. Integrated software solutions: integrated platforms cover different aspects of cost management by accessing the databases of different software and tools. This facilitates collaboration between teams and departments.
   
4. Cloud-based solutions and collaboration: thanks to cloud technologies, access to cost engineering tools is simplified and collaboration both within a company and across companies is significantly promoted.
   
5. Sustainability: cost analyses must increasingly take environmental impacts and sustainability aspects into account. Environmentally friendly production processes can reduce impacts on resources and CO₂ emissions, but must be evaluated in terms of possible additional costs.
   
6. Rising energy prices and inflation: different scenarios can be run through simulations to understand the impact of changes on the cost structure.