Article ID: | iaor20061477 |
Country: | Netherlands |
Volume: | 164 |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 324 |
End Page Number: | 340 |
Publication Date: | Jul 2005 |
Journal: | European Journal of Operational Research |
Authors: | Anderson John C., Linderman Kevin, McKone-Sweet Kathleen E. |
Keywords: | maintenance, repair & replacement, management, quality & reliability |
Organizational leaders increasingly recognize process management as an essential element in organizational performance. Two key tools for process management – Statistical Process Control and Maintenance Management – can create profound economic benefits, particularly when they are coordinated. This paper demonstrates the value of integrating Statistical Process Control and maintenance by jointly optimizing their policies to minimize the total costs associated with quality, maintenance, and inspection. While maintenance is often scheduled periodically, this analysis encourages “adaptive” maintenance where the maintenance schedule accelerates when the process becomes unstable. This paper presents a number of models to demonstrate the economic behavior and value of coordinating process control and maintenance. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to develop insights into the economic and process variables that influence the integration efforts.