Maintenance is one of the central issues in operational activities, which involve any type of equipment. In this paper we have considered analysis, modeling, and scheduling of preventive maintenance operations for fuel dispensers in a chain of gas stations. A gas station company with more than 570 dispensers in more than 40 stations is considered and the maintenance problem is studied in detail. Operations research tools, including maintenance models and linear programming, were used to establish optimum schedules for preventive maintenance operations. Detailed cost analyses were carried out to determine feasibility of the proposed preventive maintenance schedules. Models and procedures presented in this paper could guide operation engineers and maintenance managers in solving similar problems for operational improvements. 1. Introduction Complex equipment and devices used in any system constitute majority of the capital invested in industry. Equipment is subject to deterioration with usage and time and deterioration is often reflected in higher operation costs and lower service quality. In order to keep operational costs down while maintaining good service quality, preventive maintenance (PM) is often performed on a scheduled basis. The cost of maintenance-related activities in industrial facilities has been estimated by Mobley [1] as 15–40% of total operation costs and the trend toward increased automation has forced managers to pay even more attention to maintain complex equipment and keep them in available state. If the equipment is maintained only when it fails, it is called corrective maintenance (CM), while preplanned maintenance is called preventive maintenance (PM). Traditionally it is known that the probability of failure would increase as equipment is aged, and that it would sharply decrease after a planned preventive maintenance (PM) is implemented. However, as indicated by Savsar [2], the amount of reduction in failure rate due to introduction of a preventive maintenance has not been fully studied. In particular, it would be desirable to know the performance of a system before and after the introduction of PM. It is also desired to know the type and the rate at which a preventive maintenance should be scheduled or the maintenance policy to be implemented. A gas station includes several facilities and equipment that need to be maintained. In particular, dispensers (gasoline pumps), storage tanks, car wash equipment, and other ancillary equipment need to be kept in operational condition for effective performance and profitable service. The
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