The optimal repair-time limit replacement policy with imperfect repair: Lorenz transform approach

In this paper, we consider a simple repair-time limit replacement problem with imperfect repair, and focus on the problem of determining the optimal repair-time limit which minimizes the expected cost per unit time in the steady-state. Applying the Lorenz transform, we develop a nonparametric method to estimate the optimal repair-time limit from the empirical repair-time data. Numerical examples are considered to calculate the optimal policy and to examine the asymptotic properties of the estimator. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.