Planning and control for a warranty service facility

A warranty service facility for industrial products that also provides internal support by reworking production defects is considered. An important concern is the evaluation of policies for how technicians with flexible skills should be moved between the service facility and adjacent production facility. Relevant measures include warranty cycle times and the overall technician utilization levels. An approach is developed that allows incoming warranty work loads to be monitored using control charts. Workload information is then used in simulating behavior using different "flexing" policies. As well, warranty cycle times are monitored using control charts. Results indicate the approach is of practical interest and can be effectively.