Development of a model for optimal maintenance policy selection

This paper focuses on developing a model to select the optimal maintenance policy with integration of failure modes and effect analysis and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution. In the past few decades, various maintenance policies such as preventive maintenance and predictive maintenance have been developed to improve the performance of the manufacturing system by improving its availability and reliability, and reducing maintenance costs. However, maintenance personnel face many difficulties identifying the optimal maintenance policy because aspects such as failure causes, availability, and the capability of maintenance policies need to be taken into consideration. In addition, most companies lack a systematic and effective selection model for selecting optimal maintenance policy. A system without an optimal maintenance policy not only will reduce the efficiency of system capability but also increase the failure risk of the system. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to propose a maintenance policy selection model that could assist maintenance personnel in identifying an optimal maintenance policy systematically. Furthermore, reduce the failure risk of the system. [Received 21 October 2009; Revised 1 July 2010; Revised 20 January 2012; Revised 15 May 2012; Accepted 20 May 2012]