On the application of uncertainty models in copying machine maintenance

Abstract

A maintenance system is necessary to maintain an efficient production system and reduce the possibility of work being suspended due to machine breakdown. For every manufacturing company the objective is to produce goods at a profit and this is only achieved using an effective maintenance system. Maintenance is required for all types of machinery. The copying machine is one of the most important inventions of the 20th century. In this paper, the maintenance of copying machines is focused on. For this purpose, a multi-objective nonlinear programming model with uncertainty is introduced. Data in many real life engineering and economic problems suffers from inexactness. And uncertainty also exists. In order to deal with uncertain optimization problems, fuzzy and stochastic approaches are commonly used to describe these imprecise characteristics. Here three different approaches to uncertainty are compare; the fuzzy programming approach, the interval number programming approach and the stochastic programming approach. A numerical example is introduced to clarify the proposed method.