A Simulation-based Process Model for Analyzing Impact of Maintenance on Profitability

Proper maintenance of Cyber Physical Production Systems (CPPS) has gained much more attention in the era of Industry 4.0. Selecting and implementing an optimal maintenance policy is a complex task and thus largely discussed in literature. Maintenance management has to consider all specific conditions and restrictions of an enterprise in order to identify the most suitable policy for a production system. Due to the fact that analytical approaches strongly rely on availability and quality of data, which is missing in various industrial use-cases, several studies prefer simulation-based optimization. Nevertheless, almost all data-driven and simulation-based models do not take long-term economic indicators such as profitability into account. This paper provides a simulation-based model, which enhances maintenance policy selection process with the aim to improve profitability. As a proof of concept, the model is applied in a real-world use case scenario and further research pathways on combining simulation-based and data-driven approaches are outlined.