Economic service life of equipment under uncertain revenues: A real options approach

Abstract Companies which utilize equipment as a critical manufacturing asset should resolve the problem of economic replacement. In this article, a case study of equipment replacement for an auto parts manufacturer is presented. We derive a formula to calculate the expected service life using a classical binomial real options model under revenue uncertainty. A sensitivity analysis shows that the initial cost of the equipment has the largest impact on the expected service life in this case study. The presented real option model is applicable to manufacturing companies which seek to the solution of economic equipment replacement under revenue uncertainty.