Optimal joint maintenance and operation policies to maximise overall systems effectiveness

In this paper, the problem of determining the optimal maintenance and operation policies for a multi-state, multi-stage machine maintenance problem is considered. This problem has been formulated in the literature as a Partially Observed Markov Decision Process (POMDP). A new formulation that explicitly ties maintenance, operation, and quality within the POMDP framework is provided. The new formulation maximises Overall Systems Effectiveness for an n-state system with multiple speed and maintenance actions. The model provides, for each time epoch, a set of optimal maintenance and production-rate actions. The decision-maker (controller) can select the optimal policy depending on the system state occupancy vector (belief state). A realistic numerical model is presented to demonstrate the model utility.