Sharon Ryan

Abstract

In spite of its advantages over manual estimating methods, computer assisted estimating (CAE) lacks acceptance in the printing industry today. Possible reasons for non-acceptance are: 1) the cost of CAE, 2) CAE's lack of versatility, 3) printing manager's lack of knowledge on the subject of CAE and/or computers in general, and 4) the small size of the majority of the printing companies does not warrant the use of CAE. A survey questionnaire was designed for the purpose of finding out how printing companies feel about CAE, and if the reasons listed above are, in fact, major influences on their decision not to use CAE. The responses of the survey were analyzed by use of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). There were 312 survey responses used in data analysis. From this data, it was concluded that the major reason for CAE rejection among the responding population is the cost of CAE. The factor of company size must be considered also when stating this conclusion, since 55 percent of the printing companies responding employ between one and twenty-five people. In the overall population, when the number of employees in printing companies increases, so does CAE usage, which indicates the size of the company is an important factor towards CAE acceptance among the respondents to the survey. The major factor influencing the acceptance of CAE in the form of a problem with CAE itself (and not the printing company) is CAE's lack of program versatility. The author feels that this problem will be overcome in the near future with improved customized and semi-customized system programming.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Printing industry--Estimates--Data processing--Evaluation; Printing industry--Estimates--Data processing--Statistics

Publication Date

5-1-1981

Document Type

Thesis

Department, Program, or Center

School of Print Media (CIAS)

Advisor

Birkett, William

Advisor/Committee Member

Noga, Joseph

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works. Physical copy available through RIT's The Wallace Library at: Z245.R96 1981

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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