A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1979

The primary objective of this study· is to .develop a computer-based general maintenance scheduling model .. which can undertake to analyze the failure distribution without resorting to any prior assumptions and with the ultimate objective of recommending an optimal preventive maintenance policy. The Weibull Distribution, being the most general form of failure distribution, forms the basis of the model. The choice of the optimal class interval is obtained by iterative procedure based on the condition that each class interval must contain at least one data point. Parametric test is carried out by means of Goodness-of-Fit test. The optimal policy is determined either analytically or heuristically depending on the success or failure of the above test. The model is initially validated by means of known distribution and subsequently applied to analyze electrical switches, pumps (seals and bearings), heat exchangers (4 different types), electron tubes and forklift trucks (electrical, mechanical and type failures). The Watanabe Plotter is used to plot the failure distribution, the failure rate function and the cost sensitivity.