Reliability and operating environment‐based spare parts estimation approach

Abstract

PurposeWith continuous technological development in the twenty‐first century, the industry and industrial systems have become complex and making their availability more critical. In this context, the product support and its related issues such as spare parts play an important role. Lack of timely or incomplete support, such as the lack of spare parts when required, is likely to cause unexpected downtimes, which in turn often lead to incompensatable losses. Therefore the importance of predicting the correct support to keep the system functionally available needs to be emphasized. Required number of spare parts could be obtained based on technical and life parameters. This paper seeks to examine the system reliability and operating environment, which are the two parameters to be considered in this article.Design/methodology/approachA model is provided in this paper to determine the number of required spare parts with respect to the effect of the external factors, except time, on the reliability characteristics of components through the proportional hazard model. The model is verified with estimation of the number of spare hydraulic jacks, used on a load‐haul‐dump (LHD) machine, as non‐repairable components. The reliability of this non‐repairable part and its operational impact are assessed, while considering environmental factors and ignoring them.FindingsThe results indicate that the operating environment of system/machine has considerable influence on system performance. Forecasting the required support/spare parts based on technical characteristics and the system‐operating environment is an optimal way to prevent unplanned stoppages.Practical implicationsThe environmental conditions in which the equipment is to be operated, such as temperature, humidity, dust, road conditions, maintenance facilities, maintenance crew training, operators' skill, etc., often have considerable influence directly on the system/machine or component reliability and indirectly on the product supportability characteristics. Spare parts, are classified as a product support item whose availability is important when planned or unplanned maintenance is to be carried out. Forecasting the required number of spare parts, based on technical characteristics and operating environmental conditions of a system, is one of the best ways to optimize unplanned stoppages.Originality/valuePreviously, the state of the specific technology and other factors have demonstrated the need for support in enhancing system effectiveness and preventing unexpected downtime. This paper sets the required number of spare parts necessary to fulfil this need.