Simultaneous scheduling of maintenance crew and maintenance tasks in bus operating companies: a case study
Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering
ISSN: 1355-2511
Article publication date: 24 March 2021
Issue publication date: 28 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe an integer linear programming model to schedule the maintenance crew and the maintenance tasks in a bus operating company.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed methodology relies on an integer linear programming model that finds feasible maintenance schedules. It minimizes the costs associated with maintenance crew and the costs associated with unavailability. The model is applied in a real-world case study of a Portuguese bus operating company. A constructive heuristic approach is put forward, based on solving the maintenance scheduling problem for each bus separately.
Findings
The heuristic finds better solutions than the exact methods (based on branch-and-bound techniques) in a much lower computational time.
Practical implications
The results suggest the relevance of such heuristic approaches for maintenance scheduling in practice.
Originality/value
This proposed model is an effective decision-making support method that provides feasible maintenance schedules for the maintenance technicians and for the maintenance tasks in a fleet of buses. It also complies with several operational, technical and labour constraints.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Data availability statement: Some or all data, models or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The authors express their gratitude to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia). This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, through IDMEC, under LAETA, project UIDB/50022/2020. We extend our gratitude to the maintenance and innovation divisions of CARRIS bus operating company, for supporting our work and providing detailed input data.
Citation
Martins, R., Fernandes, F., Infante, V. and Andrade, A.R. (2022), "Simultaneous scheduling of maintenance crew and maintenance tasks in bus operating companies: a case study", Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 506-532. https://doi.org/10.1108/JQME-09-2020-0099
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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