Priority repair and dispatch policies for repairable-item logistics systems

This article presents the results of a simulation study concerned with repairable electronic equipment on military aircraft. Past studies in the literature have considered priority rules at the repair depot, and one study considered an allocation scheme for distributing repaired items to bases. This study examines the use of a priority rule for sequencing items at a repair depot in conjunction with a priority rule for allocating repair times to bases. It examines, among other things, the conditions under which it is favorable to consider priority rules. The results indicate that the important variables are the efficiency of the lateral resupply system, the initial allocation of spare stock, and the time it takes to ship items from the depot to bases. The objective throughout is to minimize the expected number of aircraft grounded due to lack of parts.