A dynamic availability analysis of an N-component production system with interdependency effects: a fractional-order approach

Abstract

This paper presents a dynamic availability assessment of a large multi-component production system, taking into account the stochastic interdependence effect that has a negative impact on system availability. While this effect is detrimental to availability, it is necessary to consider it in maintenance modeling. The proposed model, which is based on the fractional-order model (FOM), takes into account the various states of system components, including the impacted, degraded, and failed states. We proposed an effective framework to compute a more realistic system availability, even for real systems in which the effect of interdependence occurs. The proposed model is validated using a numerical example, which provides an evaluation of the interdependence effect on various system variables. Additionally, a set of managerial insights is formulated, providing practical implications for maintenance planning and decision-making in large multi-component production systems. © 2023, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to German Academic Society for Production Engineering (WGP). Keywords: Fractional-order model, Machine degradation, Multi-components, Production system availability, Stochastic dependency