Optimal maintenance and replacement decisions under technological change with consideration of spare parts inventories

Thi Phuong Khanh Nguyen (1) , Thomas G. Yeung (1) , Bruno Castanier (1)

1 IRCCyN - Institut de Recherche en Communications et en Cybernétique de Nantes

Classical spare parts inventory models assume that the same vintage of technology will be utilized throughout the planning horizon. However, replacement often occurs in the form of a new technology that renders existing spare parts inventories obsolete. This paper aims to study the impact of spare parts inventory on maintenance and replacement decisions under technological change via a Markov decision process formulation. The replacement decision is complex in that one must decide with which technology available on the market to replace the current asset. Under technological change, the do nothing and repair options have significantly more value as they allow the appearance of even better technologies in the future.

Domaines: Optimisation et contrôle [math.OC]

Thi Phuong Khanh Nguyen, Thomas G. Yeung, Bruno Castanier. Optimal maintenance and replacement decisions under technological change with consideration of spare parts inventories. International Symposium on Inventories, Sep 2010, Hungary. pp.31-37. ⟨hal-00728078⟩