Optimizing the performance of complex maintenance systems

The scope of this paper is to optimize the performance of a multi-indenture maintenance engineering systems. We focus here on modelling and solving a Level of Repair Analysis (LORA) problem variant with simultaneous determination of resources capacity and spare parts. A solution approach based on optimization via simulation is developed. The simulation phase determines the performance of the whole system taking into account the dynamics of the maintenance processes. The optimization phase explores the search space efficiently through a local search method in order to define a new solution with better performance. Computational results collected while solving an illustrative test problem are reported and discussed.