Modelling and analysis of service parts logistics systems (Q631960)

Summary: Many organisations purchase equipment that is subject to unpredictable failures to carry out their services. When these breakdowns occur, maintenance technicians restore the equipment in a timely fashion either through repair or the installation of spare parts. In this research, the behaviour of the service parts logistics system (SPLS) is approximated with a modified \(M/G/1\) HOL queuing model. Then, the costs structure of the SPLS is defined and approximated with a mathematical model that captures the interdependence of the inventory policy and the technician assignment. A heuristic 'assign locations' is implemented based on the modified \(M/G/1\) HOL queuing, the costs model and a genetic algorithm to search for the near-minimum cost technician assignment given a fixed technician's vehicle inventory policy.