Maintenance optimization for second‐hand products following periodic imperfect preventive maintenance warranty period

Abstract

The maintenance policy for a product's life cycle differs for second‐hand and new products. Although several maintenance policies for second‐hand products exist in the literature, they are rarely investigated with reference to periodic inspection and preventive maintenance action during the warranty period. In this research, we study an optimal post‐warranty maintenance policy for a second‐hand product, which was purchased at age x with a fixed‐length warranty period. During the warranty period, the product is periodically inspected and maintained preventively at a prorated cost borne by the user, while any product failure is only minimally repaired by the dealer. After the warranty expires, the product is self‐maintained by the user for a fixed‐length maintenance period and the costs incurred during this time are fully borne by the user. At the end of the maintenance period, the product is replaced with a product of the user's choice. This study is focused on the determination of an optimal length for the maintenance period after the warranty expiration. As a criterion for the optimality, we adopt the long‐run mean cost during the second‐hand product's life cycle from the user's perspective. Finally, our results are analyzed numerically for sensitive analysis of several relevant factors, assuming that the failure distribution follows a Weibull distribution.

Determination of optimal post-warranty variable maintenance period for repairable second-hand product based on mean residual life

“…has increased dramatically during the past two decades. More detailed survey results are described with regard to the sale of the new and used automobiles, 1 which indicates the increased sales volume of the second-hand products. Such a trend prompts a research work to develop an optimal maintenance strategy of the second-hand product incorporating a certain type of warranty policy in order to minimize the dealer’s (or customer’s) maintenance cost or to maximize the reliability of the product.…”

“…Thus, the length of life cycle of the product under our proposed maintenance model is expanded by as much as the mean remaining life of the SHP, which is in use at the end of self-maintenance, in comparison with the life cycle considered under the LKP model. 1 It also should be emphasized that the post-warranty maintenance policy is to maintain the product in reliable functioning state, even after the warranty expires. Thus, in this work we utilize the concept of remaining life of the product at the expiration of warranty to determine an optimal self-maintenance period, which varies depending on the residual life distribution after the warranty expires.…”

“…As an optimal post-warranty maintenance action, Lim et al 1 considers a situation where the dealer provides a fixed number of periodic PM services during the warranty period and minimal repair service only at any failure between two consecutive PM’s. Following the warranty period, the SHP is maintained by the user for a fixed-length of maintenance period and is replaced with another product at the end of the self-maintenance period.…”

“…Following the warranty period, the SHP is maintained by the user for a fixed-length of maintenance period and is replaced with another product at the end of the self-maintenance period. Lim et al 1 proposes an optimization of the maintenance period to minimize the long-run mean cost during the SHP’s life cycle from the user’s perspective. This work is an extension of the LKP model, proposed in Lim et al 1 by considering the variable self-maintenance period following the warranty period, instead of a fixed length of self-maintenance period.…”

“…Lim et al 1 proposes an optimization of the maintenance period to minimize the long-run mean cost during the SHP’s life cycle from the user’s perspective. This work is an extension of the LKP model, proposed in Lim et al 1 by considering the variable self-maintenance period following the warranty period, instead of a fixed length of self-maintenance period. The main contribution of this work lies in studying the effects of variable self-maintenance policy depending on the remaining life distribution of the product following the warranty period to compare with the fixed self-maintenance post-warranty policy.…”