A multicriteria decision model for a combined burn-in and replacement policy

Abstract

This paper considers a multicriteria model for a combined burn-in and replacement process for a simple system comprising a single component from a heterogeneous population, consisting of two sub-populations that possess different failure characteristics. There are several papers that have dealt with mixed distributions. Nevertheless, suitable procedures for dealing with the distinct failure behaviours from these two sub-populations are limited. Furthermore, some combined policies of burn-in and replacement have not achieved consensus on their efficiency. Therefore, we consider a multicriteria model for supporting the decision-maker in a combined burn-in-replacement policy. This model enables the decision-maker to set up a combined burn-in-replacement policy by taking advantage of the broader view provided by a simultaneous evaluation of cost and post-burn-in reliability while also providing the possibility of inserting the decision-maker's preferences into the model. A case study is used to illustrate some advantages in comparison with results from the classical model (minimum cost). © 2011 Springer-Verlag.