PurposeThis paper models the deterioration process of a multi-component system. Each deterioration process is modelled by the Wiener process. The purposes of this paper are to address these issues and consider the cost process based on the multi-component system.Design/methodology/approachCondition-based Maintenance is a method for reducing the probability of system failures as well as the operating cost. Nowadays, a system is composed of multiple components. If the deteriorating process of each component can be monitored and then modelled by a stochastic process, the deteriorating process of the system is a stochastic process. The cost of repairing failures of the components in the system forms a stochastic process as well and is known as a cost process.FindingsWhen a linear combination of the processes, which can be the deterioration processes and the cost processes, exceeds a pre-specified threshold, a replacement policy will be carried out to preventively maintain the system.Originality/valueUnder this setting, this paper investigates maintenance policies based on the deterioration process and the cost process. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the optimisation process.