Binghai Zhou, Jiadi Yu, Jianyi Shao and Damien Trentesaux
The purpose of this paper is to develop a bottleneck-based opportunistic maintenance (OM) model for the series production systems with the integration of the imperfect effect into…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a bottleneck-based opportunistic maintenance (OM) model for the series production systems with the integration of the imperfect effect into maintenance activities.
Design/methodology/approach
On the analysis of availability and maintenance cost, preventive maintenance (PM) models subjected to imperfect maintenance for different equipment types are built. And then, a cost-saving function of OM is established to find out an optimal OM strategy, depending on whether the front-bottleneck machines adopt OM strategy or not. A numerical example is given to show how the proposed bottleneck-based OM model proceeded.
Findings
The simulation results indicate that the proposed model is better than the methods to maintain the machines separately and the policy to maintain all machines when bottleneck machine reaches its reliability threshold. Furthermore, the relationship between OM strategy and corresponding parameters is identified through sensitivity analysis.
Practical implications
In practical situations, the bottleneck machine always determines the throughput of the whole series production system. Whenever a PM activity is carried out on the bottleneck machine, there will be an opportunity to maintenance other machines. Under such circumstances, findings of this paper can be utilized for the determination of optimal OM policy with the objective of minimizing total maintenance cost of the system.
Originality/value
This paper presents a bottleneck-based OM optimization model with the integration of the imperfect effect as a new method to schedule maintenance activities for a series production system with buffers. Furthermore, to the best of the knowledge, this paper presents the first attempt to considering the bottleneck constraint on system capacity and diverse types of machines as a means to minimize the maintenance cost and ensure the system throughput.
Details
Keywords
Xiangtianrui Kong, G.Q. Huang, Hao Luo and Benjamin P.C. Yen
While significant efforts have been made to study auction and logistics theories in the context of perishable supply chain trading (PSCT) over the last few years, the consensus…
Abstract
Purpose
While significant efforts have been made to study auction and logistics theories in the context of perishable supply chain trading (PSCT) over the last few years, the consensus has not yet been reached on how best to examine the impact of physical-internet-enabled auction logistics (AL) decisions and processes on dynamic perishable products transactions. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by investigating the existing situations and identifying future opportunities for both academic and industrial communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The relevant literature was sort out along with three dimensions, namely auction mechanism, level of decision and coordination. The methods of field investigation and focus group discussion were also used to explore the factors influencing AL performance.
Findings
A number of key findings presented. First, there is an emerging paradigm shift from offline auction to online auction. Robust and resilient AL are needed to fulfill the massive number of orders from different channels while considering dynamic decisions. Second, three-level decisions in AL have been explicitly classified and defined. Various mathematical techniques used in literature vis-à-vis the contexts of AL were mapped. Third, a coordination mechanism that dynamically balances trade-off between logistics efficiency and transaction price was discussed. Lastly, several opportunities for future research were distinguished with coherent connection of research domains and open questions.
Originality/value
This paper not only summaries key themes of current research dimensions, but also indicates existing deficiencies and potential research directions. The findings can be used as the basis for future research in PSCT and related topics.