Title: Optimal burn-in, warranty, and maintenance decisions in system design

Authors: Ehsan Moghimi Hadji; Alagar Rangan

Addresses: Industrial Engineering Department, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Via Mersin 10, Turkey. ' Industrial Engineering Department, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Via Mersin 10, Turkey

Abstract: Failure rate curves of many deteriorating systems are typically bathtub shaped. Bathtub failure curves based on failure rate functions show three distinct phases namely, infant mortality period, useful period, and wear out period. Existing reliability models have been developed purely from the consumer or manufacturer's perspective thereby delinking the third phase from the first two phases. The objective of the present work is to discuss several optimality issues based on the total average cost of the system over its entire useful life that encompasses the cost incurred on the system by the consumer as well as the manufacturer.

Keywords: burn-in; warranty renewal; minimal repair; general repair; modelling; bathtub failure rate; maintenance decisions; system design; reliability models; optimisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMOM.2012.047947

International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management, 2012 Vol.2 No.3, pp.266 - 278

Published online: 21 Aug 2014 *

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