Effects of maintenance policies on the productivity of flexible manufacturing cells

Flexible manufacturing cells (FMCs) often operate with increasing failure rate due to extensive utilization and wear-outs of equipment. While maintenance plans can eliminate wear-out failures, random failures are still unavoidable. This paper discusses a procedure that combines simulation and analytical models to analyze the effects of corrective, preventive, and opportunistic maintenance policies on productivity of a flexible manufacturing cell. The production output rate of an FMC, which is a function of availability, is determined under different maintenance policies and mean time between failures.