Planning for major facilities

Planning for facilities in a field in which the “state-of-the-art” is rapidly changing presents many problems. This article suggests methods which will help in the selection and evaluation of facilities in this climate. It also describes the development of a typical facility growth curve which brought some interesting facts into focus — for example, the contribution of basic research tools to new facilities. Ways are also described in which this typical growth curve can be used to help plan for new facilities, for example, to decide whether a new type facility should be started or a current but larger facility built; whether or not test time should be purchased while evaluating new designs, etc.