In this paper, to serve different fleets of machines at different locations, we study whether repair shop pooling is more cost effective than having dedicated on-site repair shops for each fleet. When modeling the former alternative, we take transportation delays and related costs into account...

This paper proposes two optimization models for the periodic inspection of a system with “hard-type” and “soft-type” components. Given that the failures of hard-type components are self-announcing, the component is instantly repaired or replaced, but the failures of soft-type components...

We develop a Markov chain approach to forecast the production output of a human-machine system, while encompassing the effects of operator learning. This approach captures two possible effects of learning: increased production rate and reduced downtime due to human error. In the proposed Markov...

Order statistics and some other statistics connected with the sequence of waiting times for runs in a Markov chain are considered. Recursive methods for deriving generating functions of the statistics are given.

This paper presents a novel method to quantify the effects of human-related factors on the risk of failure in manufacturing industries. When failures can be caused by operators, the decision maker must intervene to mitigate operator-related risk. There are numerous intervention methods possible;...