State of the art in simulation-based optimisation for maintenance systems

• Simulation based optimisation has been successfully applied to maintenance operations.
• It has a high potential due to its ability to optimise complex maintenance systems.
• Much of the research is on optimising PM frequency that will lead to the minimum cost.

Recently, more attention has been directed towards improving and optimising maintenance in manufacturing systems using simulation. This paper aims to report the state of the art in simulation-based optimisation of maintenance by systematically classifying the published literature and outlining main trends in modelling and optimising maintenance systems. The authors investigate application areas and published real case studies as well as researched maintenance strategies and policies. Much of the research in this area is focusing on preventive maintenance and optimising preventive maintenance frequency that will lead to the minimum cost. Discrete event simulation was the most reported technique to model maintenance systems whereas modern optimisation methods such as Genetic Algorithms was the most reported optimisation method in the literature. On this basis, the paper identifies the current gaps and discusses future prospects. Further research can be done to develop a framework that guides the experimenting process with different maintenance strategies and policies. More real case studies can be conducted on multi-objective optimisation and condition based maintenance especially in a production context.