Replacing nonidentical vital components to extend system life |
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| Authors: | Steven M Shechter Matthew D Bailey Andrew J Schaefer |
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| Institution: | 1. Operations and Logistics Division, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada;2. Department of Management, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837;3. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261 |
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| Abstract: | We consider a system that depends on a single vital component. If this component fails, the system life will terminate. If the component is replaced before its failure then the system life may be extended; however, there are only a finite number of spare components. In addition, the lifetimes of these spare components are not necessarily identically distributed. We propose a model for scheduling component replacements so as to maximize the expected system survival. We find the counterintuitive result that when comparing components' general lifetime distributions based on stochastic orderings, not even the strongest ordering provides an a priori guarantee of the optimal sequencing of components. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008 |
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| Keywords: | reliability dynamic programming sequencing and scheduling |
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