Abstract: Reliability centered preventive maintenance (PM) schedule plays an important role in production process, however it is always a complex task to make such a plan. Firstly single-component equipment optimal PM strategy is analyzed. Several PM activities are performed together to reduce shutdown loss if they have reached the threshold for opportunity PM. On this basis, maintenance cost composition of multi-components systems and system availability are analyzed. The optimal group preventive maintenance model is proposed for complex systems. And the model minimizes maintenance cost and maximizes availability. A method of optimization of non-periodic PT for multi-components equipment with minimal repair at failures is discussed. Three types of PM actions including mechanical service, repair and replacement are simultaneously considered. Reliability-centered maintenance cost optimization model for multi-components system is built up. The optimal PM schedule which can provide desired levels of reliability to multi-components of the equipment and optimize maintenance cost and system availability at the same time is obtained by the simulation in Matlab program, which saves much cost and increases availability of the equipment compared with replacing or repairing components individually.

Key words: Availability, Optimization, Preventive maintenance, Reliability