TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– This paper aims to present a case study where computer simulation is used to evaluate maintenance strategies targeted to cope with a critical failure of a repairable system.Design/methodology/approach– The problem is characterized, modeled and simulated under different conditions and for finite time periods. The different states of the system and the possible transitions among these states are characterized. Transitions are conditioned by the failure dynamics and by the maintenance decision maker. The model is then formalized and the data requirements fulfilled.Findings– The performance of several maintenance policies based on educated estimations about the equipment behavior, manufacturer recommendations, well‐known previous maintenance practices, etc. benchmarked against the results of certain modeling and optimization tools.Practical implications– Practical implications of this work have to do with following the entire modeling process and maintenance policy assessment with an engineering team, exploring options and opportunities to support the maintenance managers.Originality/value– Maintenance policy design exploration using semi‐Markovian process simulation modeling. VL - 11 IS - 4 SN - 1355-2511 DO - 10.1108/13552510510626945 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/13552510510626945 AU - Crespo Marquez Adolfo PY - 2005 Y1 - 2005/01/01 TI - Modeling critical failures maintenance: a case study for mining T2 - Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 301 EP - 317 Y2 - 2024/04/19 ER -