Special Issue on Reliability, Risk and Maintenance

Abstract

Mathematical models in maintenance are an old topic: more than fifty years ago, researcher Efrain Turban published a paper in the prestigious journal "Management Science" (Turban, 1967) that analysed a national survey for identifying the gaps between the theory and practice. Specifically, their main question was why very few maintenance decision makers use the mathematical models to solve the main problems facing them. Surprisingly, however, the gap mentioned by the author is still present today. Fair to say that the gap is becoming smaller, which may be a result of some factors.Maintenance has earned a high level of reputation thanks to the recognition of its relationship with the good performance of systems. Failures in production processes and service delivery systems have very negative consequences, in financial, reliability and safety dimensions. As a result, the arsenal of models and approaches to handle maintenance problems has been increased substantially. A large spectrum of new techniques have been emerging from different areas and are being associated with classical operations research approaches applied in maintenance and reliability.This special issue brings a blend of the important problems on maintenance and reliability being treated under the field of operational research.Despite our objective here is not to identify the current impact of the models in practical life, we bring inside this special issue a review about maintenance effectiveness.

Enhancing Agricultural Production Systems Through Novel Mathematical Modelling for Optimizing Plant Maintenance Planning

“…By systematically organizing activities, allocating resources, and anticipating challenges, operational planning empowers farmers to make informed decisions throughout the production cycle. Through the integration of data-driven analysis, proactive risk management, and innovative technologies, operational planning not only improves productivity but also promotes sustainability and resilience in agricultural systems, contributing to long-term viability and global food security (Cavalcante et al, 2022).…”