Approximation neighborhood evaluation for the design of the logistics support of complex engineering systems

¹ Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy.
² Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
chefi.triki@unisalento.it
³ Department of Business Administration, University of Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Received: 15 April 2015
Accepted: 14 January 2015

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of designing the logistics support of complex multi-indenture and multi-echelon engineering systems, with the aim of determining the spare parts stock and the maintenance resources capacity, as well as the level of repair. The problem is modeled as an integer program with a nonlinear probabilistic constraint on the expected availability, whose satisfaction can only be evaluated by means of very time-consuming simulation experiments. Thus, we use an optimization via simulation approach, in which the search space is efficiently explored through an approximated neighborhood evaluation mechanism, which makes use of several parameters estimated by means of simulation. Experimental results on a number of instances show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.