Value maximizing maintenance policies under general repair

Karen B. Marais

Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 2013, vol. 119, issue C, 76-87

Abstract: One class of maintenance optimization problems considers the notion of general repair maintenance policies where systems are repaired or replaced on failure. In each case the optimality is based on minimizing the total maintenance cost of the system. These cost-centric optimizations ignore the value dimension of maintenance and can lead to maintenance strategies that do not maximize system value. This paper applies these ideas to the general repair optimization problem using a semi-Markov decision process, discounted cash flow techniques, and dynamic programming to identify the value-optimal actions for any given time and system condition. The impact of several parameters on maintenance strategy, such as operating cost and revenue, system failure characteristics, repair and replacement costs, and the planning time horizon, is explored.

Keywords: Cost benefit analysis; Dynamic programming; Maintenance; Markov processes; Reliability; Replacement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reensy:v:119:y:2013:i:c:p:76-87

DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2013.05.015

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