The design of a Logistic Support System

Cancelled flights, delayed trains or a fall out of electricity or internet are all events that are very unpleasant, costly and in the meanwhile inevitable. To prevent failure of capital goods such as aircrafts, trains, turbines and servers preventive maintenance is used. In the case that a capital good fails, corrective maintenance is used to repair the capital good as fast as possible. For both preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance a logistic support system is required.

A logistic support system is responsible for the supply of spare parts and resources that are needed to repair a failed capital good. Taking into account that capital goods typically have a dispersed installed base and require a high availability it becomes clear that an efficient logistic support system is of utmost importance.

This white-paper addresses the question how to (re)design a logistic support system. More specifically the following topics are discussed:
• Which components to replace upon failure?
• Replace a component or acquire a new one (repairable/consumable)?
• Where to repair a failed component (local versus central repair)?
• Where to install resources?
• Where and how many spare parts to stock?
• How many spare systems to install?

For questions, please contact Alain Beerens.