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Dynamic Repair Allocation for a k−Out−of−n System Maintained by Distinguishable Repairmen

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2009

Michael N. Katehakis  and
Costis Melolidakis
Michael N. Katehakis
Affiliation:
Department ofIndustrial Engineering Technical University of Crete Hania, 7300 Greece and Columbia University Department of Statistics New York, New York 10027
Costis Melolidakis
Affiliation:
Department ofIndustrial Engineering Technical University of Crete Hania, 7300 Greece
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Abstract

We consider a K-out-of-N system maintained by R repairmen, where the lifetime of the ith component is an exponentially distributed random variable with parameter μi. Repairmen are distinguishable, and the time it takes the rth repairman to repair a failed component is an exponentially distributed random variable with parameter λr. Repaired components are as good as new and preemptions are allowed. We show that the policy that assigns the faster repairmen to the most reliable components is optimal with respect to several optimality criteria.

The approach we take in establishing stochastic optimality with respect to the number of functioning components is of wide applicability to different classes of stochastic optimization problems.

Type
Articles
Information
Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , January 1988 , pp. 51 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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