Modeling of development time for hydroelectric generators using factor and multiple regression analyses

The pressure to reduce product development time in today’s competitive industrial market has made the need for sound estimation techniques more acute than ever before. This paper reports on work done to construct a parametric model to estimate the time needed to develop future hydroelectric generators. The model uses three factors, namely, product complexity, involvement of partners in the development process, and generator speed. These factors were identified by applying factor analysis, with principal component analysis and varimax rotation to nine candidate factors. The performance of the model was tested in terms of a number of objective criteria. The results indicated that the model has a good accuracy for estimating development time.