Discussions on the reuse of items based on the delay time modelling

Abstract

The delay time concept has been used in a wide variety of applications in maintenance policy optimisation. In some situations, the sojourn time of an item at a defective state may hamper the performance of the item due to its reduced efficiency, and may therefore incur more repair cost. Consequently, the longer the sojourn time in a defective state, the worse the influence may cause. Despite these facts, in the literature, there is little research investigating the influence of the sojourn time in the defective state on its relevant cost. In addition, a limited number of papers study delay time modelling for the case that repaired items can be reused. This paper therefore extends a recently published paper by Santos et al. (2021) and presents some insights into the delay time modelling for second-hand items. In general, the proposed model may be applied to the scenarios where used items may be replaced by a new or refurbished one. The main contribution of this paper is on its exploration of methods of item reuse, from which new directions for further studies are established.