Assessing asset monitoring levels for maintenance operations: a simulation approach

Date

2015-10-31

Supervisor/s

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Emerald

Department

Type

Article

ISSN

1741-038X

Format

Free to read from

Citation

Abdullah A Alabdulkarim , Peter Ball , Ashutosh Tiwari , (2015), Assessing asset monitoring levels for maintenance operations: a simulation approach, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 26 Iss: 5, pp632-659

Abstract

Purpose

– Asset management has recently gained significance due to emerging business models such as Product Service Systems where the sale of asset use, rather than the sale of the asset itself, is applied. This leaves the responsibility of the maintenance tasks to fall on the shoulders of the manufacturer/supplier to provide high asset availability. The use of asset monitoring assists in providing high availability but the level of monitoring and maintenance needs to be assessed for cost effectiveness. There is a lack of available tools and understanding of their value in assessing monitoring levels. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– This research aims to develop a dynamic modelling approach using Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to assess such maintenance systems in order to provide a better understanding of the behaviour of complex maintenance operations. Interviews were conducted and literature was analysed to gather modelling requirements. Generic models were created, followed by simulation models, to examine how maintenance operation systems behave regarding different levels of asset monitoring.

Findings

– This research indicates that DES discerns varying levels of complexity of maintenance operations but that more sophisticated asset monitoring levels will not necessarily result in a higher asset performance. The paper shows that it is possible to assess the impact of monitoring levels as well as make other changes to system operation that may be more or less effective.

Practical implications

– The proposed tool supports the maintenance operations decision makers to select the appropriate asset monitoring level that suits their operational needs.

Originality/value

– A novel DES approach was developed to assess asset monitoring levels for maintenance operations. In applying this quantitative approach, it was demonstrated that higher asset monitoring levels do not necessarily result in higher asset availability. The work provides a means of evaluating the constraints in the system that an asset is part of rather than focusing on the asset in isolation.

Description

Software Description

Software Language

Github

Keywords

Operations management, Modelling, Simulation, Maintenance, Asset monitoring, System behaviour

DOI

Rights

Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. Information: Non-Commercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

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