Optimal mobile condition-based maintenance with adaptive outsourcing
摘要
This work considers the problem of performing condition-based maintenance on a set of geographically distributed assets via a single mobile maintenance resource in conjunction with a fee-based third-party outsourcing option. By representing locations of assets using a graph and formulating a Markov decision process, the optimal timing and selection of positioning and repair decisions are determined dynamically as a function of asset health and maintenance resource location to minimize total downtime, travel, and maintenance expenses. At each decision epoch, the decision maker chooses whether and where to reposition the mobile maintenance resource; idle; or repair; as well as whether or not to initiate an outsourced repair. This generalization facilitates the examination of how the introduction of the option to outsource repairs at a cost impacts preventive maintenance of nearby assets, repositioning, and idling in anticipation of asset deterioration. Optimal policies are explored analytically and numerically with respect to graph structure and outsourced repair cost, and insights are provided into optimal outsourcing schema.