Joint maintenance-inventory optimisation of parallel production systems

We model a joint inspection and spare parts inventory policy for maintaining machines in a parallel system, where simultaneous downtime seriously impacts upon production performance and has a significant financial consequence. This dependency between system components means that analysis of realistic maintenance models is intractable. Therefore we use simulation and a numerical optimisation tool to study the cost-optimality of several policies. Inspection maintenance is modelled using the delay-time concept. Critical spare parts replenishment is considered using several variants of a periodic review policy. In particular, our results indicate that the cost-optimal policy is characterised by equal frequencies of inspection and replenishment, and delivery of spare parts that coincides with maintenance intervention. In general, our model provides a framework for studying the interaction of spare parts ordering with maintenance scheduling. The sensitivity analysis that we present offers insights for the effective management of such parallel systems, not only in a paper-making plant, which motivates our modelling development, but also in other manufacturing contexts

Performance-based metamodel for health care facilities

This paper introduces an organizational model describing the response of the Hospital Emergency Department (ED). The metamodel is able to estimate the hospital capacity and the dynamic response in real time and to incorporate the influence of the damage of structural and non-structural components on the organizational ones. The waiting time is the main parameter of response and it is used to evaluate the disaster resilience index of healthcare facilities. Its behaviour is described using a double exponential function and its parameters are calibrated based on simulated data. The metamodel covers a large range of hospital configurations and takes into account hospital resources, in terms of staff and infrastructures, operational efficiency and existence of an emergency plan, maximum capacity and behaviour both in saturated and over-capacitated conditions. The sensitivity of the model to different arrival rates, hospital configurations, and capacities and the technical and organizational policies applied during and before the strike of the disaster has been investigated. This model becomes an important tool in the decision process either for the engineering profession or for the policy maker