Optimal preventive maintenance and replacement schedules with variable improvement factor

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to develop and present a new mathematical formulation to determine the optimal preventive maintenance and replacement schedule of a system.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper divides the maintenance‐planning horizon into discrete and equally‐sized intervals and in each period decide on one of three possible actions: maintain the system, replace the system, or do nothing. Each decision carries a specific cost and affects the failure pattern of the system. The paper models the cases of minimizing total cost subject to a constraint on system reliability, and maximizing the system reliability subject to a budgetary constraint on total cost. The paper presents a new mathematical function to model an improvement factor based on the ratio of maintenance and repair costs, and show how it outperforms fixed improvement factor models by analyzing the effectiveness in terms of cost and reliability of the system.

Findings

Optimal decisions in each period over a planning horizon are sought such that the objectives and the requirements of the system can be achieved.

Practical implications

The developed mathematical models for this improvement factor can be used in theoretical and practical situations.

Originality/value

The presented models are effective decision tools that find the optimal solution of the preventive maintenance and replacement scheduling problem.

Citation

Moghaddam, K.S. and Usher, J.S. (2010), "Optimal preventive maintenance and replacement schedules with variable improvement factor", Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 271-287. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552511011072916