Title: Extended warranty policies with varying objectives

Authors: Vahidhossein Khiabani; Alagar Rangan

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagosa, TRNC, via Mersin 10, Turkey

Abstract: We consider a repairable system subject to two types of failures, minor and major requiring minimal repair and replacement, respectively, as maintenance actions. Extended warranty models for the system that includes a free replacement period and an extended warranty period are analysed. Consumers have several warranty options during the extended warranty period. Explicit expressions for the manufacturer's long run average profit per unit time under these options are obtained. We enlarge the objective function by including the total sales volume. This is done by considering the demand as a displaced log linear function of the product price, fixed warranty period and the extended warranty period. Finally, we include the penalty cost of customer's non-return into the objective function. Numerical illustrations are provided in each case to demonstrate optimal pricing and warranty period.

Keywords: extended warranty; failure types; minimal repair; log linear demand function; customer dissatisfaction; optimal pricing; warranty period.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2012.046300

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2012 Vol.10 No.4, pp.430 - 450

Published online: 20 Dec 2014 *

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