Modeling and simulation of maintenance operations at Kuwait public transport company
Keywords:
Bus fleet maintenance, simulation, bus failures, public transportation.Abstract
In this study, a simulation model is developed to analyze and improve maintenance operations of a bus fleet at Kuwait Public Transport Company (KPTC). Bus fleet maintenance has been one of the major problems at KPTC. The company operates about 600 buses daily on 40 different routes for public transportation in Kuwait. Frequently these buses fail and need corrective maintenance in addition to regular preventive maintenance activities. The company has two maintenance locations, which handle 349 and 248 buses each. In this study, the facility for 349 buses is analyzed in detail and the effects of several operation strategies on system performance are evaluated by a simulation model. The simulation results are incorporated into a cost model in order to evaluate each strategy. The results show that significant savings can be achieved by using an appropriate operation policy.
References
Etschmaier, M. M. 1985. Transit bus maintenance management in the United States. Transportation Research Part A, 19(1): 1-14.
Haghani, A. Shafahi, Y. 2002. Bus maintenance systems and maintenance scheduling: Model formulations and solutions. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 36(5): 453-482.
Maze, T. H. Cook, A. R. 1987. Theory and practice of transit bus maintenance performance measurement. Transportation Research Record, No. 1140:18-29.
Mobley, R. K. 1990. Introduction to predictive maintenance, Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY.
Ramadass, M., Rosenbeger, J., Huff, B., Gonterman, S. Subramanian, R. N. 2004. Simulation modeling for a bus maintenance facility. Proceedings of the 36th Winter Simulation Conference, Washington DC., December 5-8.
Savsar, M. 1992. Maintenance crew size determination by computer simulation. Journal of King Saud University Engineering Sciences, Special issue on Maintenance 4: 45-66.
Savsar, M. 1997. Simulation analysis of maintenance policies in just-in-time production systems'', Int. Journal of Operations Production Management 17(3): 256-266.
Savsar, M. 2006. Effects of maintenance policies on the productivity of flexible manufacturing cells'', Omega: The Int. Journal of Management Science 34: 274-282.
Savsar, M. 2011. Analysis and modeling of maintenance operations in a plant: A Case Study. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management 22(5): 679-697.
Waeyenbergh, G. Pintelon, L. 2004. Maintenance concept development: A case study. International Journal of Production Economics 89: 395-405.
