Development of composite structure which are both light and economically competitive is challenging. A new method for the development of CRFP lightweight structures implements a frequent interaction of design and production planning starting in an early design stage. As part of this, production alternatives need to be compared in terms of cost and impact on structural mass. This paper describes how a software module automatically determines suitable process chains based on a preliminary structural design. Cost of production is estimated using analytical process models dealing with imprecise design information. Applied to an aircraft fuselage panel, the method estimates cost and mass of different production alternatives. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.