A comparison of six repair scheduling policies for the P-3 aircraft

Abstract

There are a finite number of identical aircraft each of which contain a number of different types of components which contain a number of different types of components which fail at different rates. In order for an aircraft to be operational, all of its components must be operational. Each component type has a finite number of spares. Failed components are repaired at a single server facility. Simulation is used to study the effect of 6 different repair scheduling policies. The repair policies are compared on the basis of average number of operating aircraft at the end of a mission period of one week. It is found that a repair policy which first repairs the component of the type with the fewest operating components is the best. In particular, it is much better than first-in, first-out and also may well improve upon a policy that serves the longest waiting line first. A simple spares stockage policy is developed and evaluated when the above scheduling policy is in use.