Maintenance optimization of equipment by linear programming

Optimal levels of preventive maintenance performed on any system ensures cost-effective and reliable operation of the system. In this paper a component with deterioration and random failure is modeled using Markov processes while incorporating the concept of minor and major preventive maintenance. The optimal mean times to preventive maintenance (both minor and major) of the component is determined by maximizing its availability with respect to mean time to preventive maintenance. Mathematical optimization programs Maple 7 and Lingo 7 are used to find the optimal solution, which is illustrated using a numerical example. Further, an optimal maintenance policy is obtained using Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). Linear Programming (LP) is utilized to implement the MDP problem.