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Optimal joint preventive maintenance and production policies
Author(s) -
Yao Xiaodong,
Xie Xiaolan,
Fu Michael C.,
Marcus Steven I.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
naval research logistics (nrl)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1520-6750
pISSN - 0894-069X
DOI - 10.1002/nav.20107
Subject(s) - production (economics) , preventive maintenance , joint (building) , markov decision process , computer science , operations research , work (physics) , markov process , limit (mathematics) , set (abstract data type) , optimal maintenance , operations management , business , mathematical optimization , microeconomics , reliability engineering , economics , mathematics , engineering , statistics , architectural engineering , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis , programming language
Abstract We study joint preventive maintenance (PM) and production policies for an unreliable production‐inventory system in which maintenance/repair times are non‐negligible and stochastic. A joint policy decides (a) whether or not to perform PM and (b) if PM is not performed, then how much to produce. We consider a discrete‐time system, formulating the problem as a Markov decision process (MDP) model. The focus of the work is on the structural properties of optimal joint policies, given the system state comprised of the system's age and the inventory level. Although our analysis indicates that the structure of optimal joint policies is very complex in general, we are able to characterize several properties regarding PM and production, including optimal production/maintenance actions under backlogging and high inventory levels, and conditions under which the PM portion of the joint policy has a control‐limit structure. In further special cases, such as when PM set‐up costs are negligible compared to PM times, we are able to establish some additional structural properties. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005.