In this project a scale up study and profitability analysis is conducted for the manufacture of high temperature wire.  High temperature wire has numerous applications such as in geothermal environments and is generally used in motors, furnaces, ovens, and high intensity lights.

The economic scale up study is carried out through three plant capacities: pilot (50,000 feet per year), pre-production (500,000 feet per year), and production (1-25 million feet per year).  The smallest three capacities are completed in the first few years of plant operation, building up to the largest scale by the third year.  The plant will be housed in a pre-existing facility in Atlanta, Georgia, and profitability analyses have been performed to determine the selling cost per foot of wire after incorporating material cost, utility use, equipment requirements, and other miscellaneous costs and investments. 

Based on the analysis, the plant should run eight hours per day, seven days per week.  This schedule necessitates sixteen production lines of equipment to meet the demand of 25M feet per year.  The economic feasibility was studied over a 20-year period which includes one year for plant design and two years for the smaller scale productions.  Total permanent investment of capital into the project is approximately $3.6M with a working capital $299K requirement.  In order to achieve a 16% investor’s rate of return, the selling price of the insulated wire is $0.22 per foot.  Returns on investment and corresponding payback period are 19.8% and 5.0 years, respectively.  The net present value at the end of each year is $4.66M.  The higher initial capital investment required for a shorter work day is compensated over time and results in a higher return on investment. 

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