Optimizing inspection intervals—Reliability and availability in terms of a cost model: A case study on railway carriers

Mike ten Wolde and Adel A. Ghobbar

Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 2013, vol. 114, issue C, 137-147

Abstract: This paper states the problem that railway carriers have with inspections and maintenance in its most cost optimal way. Often there is external pressure to improve reliability and availability and to reduce costs significantly. To overcome this problem this paper suggests a model that tries to find the optimal inspection interval. Not all maintenance companies have their inspection intervals that match with the actual reliability of a system anymore and the inspection intervals are not necessarily at a cost optimum. This research retrieves the actual failure and repair data and combines this together with the availability of a system to find the optimum inspection interval in terms of costs. The application of the optimization approach to a railway carrier maintenance company in the Netherlands is also presented.

Keywords: Maintenance costs; Reliability; Availability; Costs optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reensy:v:114:y:2013:i:c:p:137-147

DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2012.12.013

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