Simultaneous determination of preventive maintenance and replacement policies in a queue-like production system with minimal repair

This paper addresses the joint effects of preventive maintenance and replacement policies on a queue-like production system with minimal repair at failures. We consider a policy which calls for a preventive maintenance operation whenever N parts have been processed. If a failure occurs and at least K preventive maintenance operations have been carried out, the system is replaced by a new one. Otherwise, a failure is handled by minimal repair. An analytical model is developed and the argument of renewal–reward theory is used to provide long-run expected profit per unit time for a given maintenance and replacement policy. Numerical examples are given to provide some managerial insights.