An integrated model of production scheduling, maintenance and quality for a single machine

Abstract

It is well known that production scheduling, maintenance and process control decisions affect each other. Hence it is both essential and prudent to optimize them jointly. This paper develops a model that integrates and optimizes production, maintenance and process control decisions simultaneously for a single machine. Both types of maintenance, preventive and corrective, are taken into consideration. The methodology starts by developing an optimal preventive maintenance schedule. Then an integrated model that determines the decision variables and optimizes the total cost per unit time, resulting from production scheduling, inventory holding and maintenance and process control is developed. The utility of the model is demonstrated using an example from the literature. Systematic sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the model results are robust. Also; the model results are compared with the results of optimizing each system separately and with two-way integration. The comparisons indicate that the developed model results in a saving that ranged from 2.62 to 6.78 percent. The model provides a viable approach for optimizing production scheduling, maintenance and quality jointly.