The Role of Object Oriented Simulation F Modeling in Maintenance Processes

Authors: Abdulsalam A. Al-Sudairi

Abstract:

Object-oriented simulation is considered one of the most sophisticated techniques that has been widely used in planning, designing, executing and maintaining construction projects. This technique enables the modeler to focus on objects which is extremely important for thorough understanding of a system. Thus, identifying an object is an essential point of building a successful simulation model. In a maintenance process an object is a maintenance work order (MWO). This study demonstrates a maintenance simulation model for the building maintenance division of Saudi Consolidated Electric Company (SCECO) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The model focused on both types of maintenance processes namely: (1) preventive maintenance (PM) and (2) corrective maintenance (CM). It is apparent from the findings that object-oriented simulation is a good diagnostic and experimental tool. This is because problems, limitations, bottlenecks and so forth are easily identified. These features are very difficult to obtain when using other tools.

Keywords: Object oriented, simulation, maintenance, process, work orders

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1070377

References:

[1] McGregor, J. and Sykes, D. (1992). Object-Oriented Software Development: Engineering Software Reuse. International Thomson Computers Press, Boston, MA, USA.
[2] Law, A. and Kelton, D. (2000). Simulation Modeling and Analysis. 3rd Edition, McGrrow-Hill, Boston, USA.
[3] Mjema, E. (2002). An Analysis of Personnel Capacity Requirement in the Maintenance Department by Using a Simulation Method. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 253-273.
[4] Al-Sudairi, A. (2010). Lean Management Models for Facility Maintenance. University of Dammam, Deanship for Scientific Research, Report # 91009.
[5] Cassady C., Pohl, E. and Murdock, W. (2001). Selective Maintenance Modeling for Industrial Systems. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Eng., Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 104-117.
[6] Hansen, G. (1997). Automating Business Process Reengineering: Using the Power of Visual Simulation Strategies to Improve Performance and Profit, Prentice Hall PTR, New Jersey, USA.
[7] Laguna, M. and Marklund, J. (2005). Business Process Modeling, Simulation and Design. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA.
[8] Krahl, D. (2002). The Extend Simulation Environment. Proceedings of the 2002 Winter Simulation Conference, pp. 205-213.
[9] Organ, M., Whitehead, T. and Evans, M. (1997). Availability-Based Maintenance within an Asset Management Program. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Eng., Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 221-232.
[10] Narayan, V. (1998). The Raison D-etre of Maintenance. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 38-50.