ELECTRE III to dynamically support the decision maker about the periodic replacements configurations for a multi‐component system

The problem tackled by the present paper concerns the selection of the elements of a repairable and stochastically deteriorating multi‐component system to replace (replacements configuration) during each scheduled and periodical system stop within a finite optimization cycle, by ensuring the simultaneous minimization of both the expected total maintenance cost and the system unavailability. To solve the considered problem, a combined approach between multi‐objective optimization problem (MOOP) and multi‐criteria decision making (MCDM) resolution techniques is proposed. In particular, the e constraint method is used to single out the optimal Pareto frontier whereas the ELECTRE III multi‐criteria decision support method is proposed to support the selection of the replacements configuration that represents the best compromise among the considered objectives. The proposed approach is sequentially applied at each scheduled system stop by allowing the dynamic updating of the information about the decisional context in which the decision maker has to operate. To illustrate the whole procedure a numerical case study is solved for different hypothesized scenarios related to the importance attributed by the decision maker to the system unavailability and the maintenance cost objectives.