Maintenance scheduling to support the operation of manufacturing and production assets

Manufacturing and production plants operate physical assets that deteriorate with usage and time, thus, maintenance actions are required to restore the assets back to their original predetermined operational conditions. In this paper, we extend previous work on maintenance scheduling to considering a multi-component system that optimises both cost and reliability simultaneously. The model uses the concept of imperfect maintenance and includes factors such as ageing due to the operation rate of the system, downtime for maintenance and lead time for spare parts. For each maintenance planning period, the model predicts which of the three possible actions (namely, maintaining the component, replacing the component or doing nothing) for each component should be taken, such that the reliability is at least at a required level and the net present cost for the entire planning period is minimised. The entire approach is illustrated through the use of a numerical example and the evaluation of the model is done by using an evolutionary algorithm.