Comprehensive Analysis of System Reliability and Maintenance Strategy Based on Optimal Lifecycle Cost

Lifecycle cost (LCC) is the total cost that a system needed throughout the whole life cycle. The studies of LCC have a positive effect on cost control, management strategy selection, quality optimization and best cost-effectiveness management. However, most of the current LCC methods only consider the cost but neglect the performance of the system, which have significant limitations. This paper proposes a LCC optimization model including design cost, manufacturing cost and repair cost. A computational study of an optical system of a large-scale facility is provided to demonstrate the applicability and the effectiveness of our proposed model. In the case, the relationship curve of optimal LCC and reliability design requirements considering preventive maintenance is obtained. By comparing the curve of optimal LCC with and without preventive maintenance, we can find the intrinsic relationship between reliability design, maintenance strategy and the optimal LCC, and provide a general method of improving cost-effectiveness in the design of the system.