Optimisation of Preventive Maintenance Regime Based on Failure Mode System Modelling Considering Reliability

Abstract

Today, the ability to maintain a continuous complex system operation is viewed as a key attribute for ensuring uninterrupted revenue contribution and the survival of a business. Many industrial organisations have come to understand that by having an effective plan of maintenance, the efficiency and reliability of a system can be improved, while costs can be minimised and revenue-generating production can continue. The novelty of this paper is based on using failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) to develop a holistic preventive maintenance schedule for a complete system. A system can be modelled as a series and parallel arrangement of subsystems and components, and failure of different components of the system can be determined from their life expectancy. The objective is to ensure continuity of production output while maintaining a high level of system reliability and minimising the total maintenance costs. The reliability of a complete system is analysed using the Weibull failure-time distribution. By using the exhaustive search optimisation method, the maintenance cost is minimised by determining the optimal replacement interval for each FMEA block, subject to system reliability. Based on the results obtained from a case study, it is shown that the approach in this paper can ensure the continuity of production output during maintenance activities, reduce system maintenance costs, and achieve maximum system reliability. This holistic approach can be applied to any form of complex system, and at every step of the process.