Optimal Service Contract Policies for Outsourcing Maintenance Service of Assets to the Service Providers

Abstract

There is a growing trend for asset intensive industries to outsource maintenance services of their complex assets since outsourcing through service contract reduces upfront investments in infrastructure, expertise and specialised maintenance facilities. Estimation of costs for such contracts is complex and it is important to the user and the service providers for economic variability. The service provider's profit is influenced by many factors such as the terms of the contract, reliability of asset, and the servicing strategies, costs of resources needed to carryout maintenance. There is a need to develop mathematical models for understanding future costs to build it into the contract price. Three policies for service contracts are proposed in this paper considering the concepts of outsourcing maintenance service of assets to the service providers. Conceptual models are developed for estimating servicing costs of outsourcing through service contracts by considering time dependent failure mode.