Simulation-based optimisation of maintenance systems: Industrial case studies. (July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alrabghi, Abdullah; Tiwari, Ashutosh; Savill, Mark
• Is Part Of: Journal of manufacturing systems. Volume 44:Part 1(2017)
• Page Start: 191
• Page End: 206
• Publication Date: 2017-07
• Subjects: Simulation -- Maintenance -- Discrete event simulation -- Optimisation -- Industrial case studies; Manufacturing processes -- Periodicals; Production engineering -- Data processing -- Periodicals; Robots, Industrial -- Periodicals; Production, Technique de la -- Informatique -- Périodiques; Robots industriels -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 670.42
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmsy.2017.05.008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0278-6125

Abstract

Highlights: Data is collected from a tyre re-treading factory (industrial case A) and a petro-chemical plant (industrial case B). The research is the first to optimise maintenance strategies and their parameters in industrial systems while considering production dynamics. Investigated maintenance strategies include CM, PM, OM and CBM. In some cases, it appears that traditional trade-offs between maintenance cost and production throughput are not present. There is a high computational expenses associated with simulation-based optimisation of maintenance systems. Abstract: Investigating the optimum blend of maintenance strategies for a given manufacturing system is a continuing concern amongst maintenance academics and professionals. Recent evidence suggests that little research is conducted on the simulation optimisation of maintenance in industrial systems. This study was designed to make an important contribution to the field of simulation-based optimisation of maintenance by presenting two empirical case studies: a tyre re-treading factory and a petro-chemical plant. It is one of the first to optimise various maintenance strategies simultaneously with their parameters in industrial manufacturing systems while considering production dynamics. Stochastic Discrete Event Simulation models were developed and connected to a Multi-Objective Optimisation engine. Various maintenance strategies were investigated including Corrective Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Opportunistic Maintenance and Condition-Based Maintenance. The results of this research suggest that over-looking the optimisation of maintenance on the strategic level may lead to sub-optimal solutions. In addition, it appears that traditional trade-offs between maintenance cost and production throughput are not present in some maintenance systems. This is an interesting observation that requires further investigation and experimentation.