Product Description

The efficient functioning of modern society depends on the smooth operation of many complex systems which provide products and services. These include transport systems, communication systems, utilities, manufacturing plants, processing plants, hospitals and banks. Such systems are unreliable in the sense that they degrade with age and/or usage and fail when they are no longer capable of delivering the products and services. When a complex system fails, the consequences can be dramatic. It can result in serious economic losses, affect humans and do serious damage to the environment. These failures can be controlled through preventive maintenance actions.

Due to advances in the understanding of the physics of failure, and in the technologies used to combat this failure; the literature on maintenance of unreliable systems is vast. Complex System Maintenance Handbook is the first book to integrate this vast literature with chapters written by internationally-renowned active researchers and experienced practitioners focussing on different aspects of maintenance. Each chapter will review the literature dealing with a particular aspect of maintenance, report on developments and trends in a particular industry sector or present a case study.

Complex System Maintenance Handbook narrows the gap between theory and practice and will trigger new research on different aspects of maintenance. It will be of interest to maintenance engineers and managers working in industry as well as researchers and graduate students in the fields of maintenance, industrial engineering and applied mathematics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1262177 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 657 pages

About the Author

Professor Kobbacy is a professor of management science in the Centre of Operational Research and Applied Statistics and also the Director of Management and Management Sciences Research Institute, Salford University, UK. He has a long-standing interest in "applied" operational research. He has previously lectured in operational research at Strathclyde University after gaining industrial experience in a major oil company. His research interests in operations management are directed towards the development of intelligent management systems for maintenance scheduling and inventory control. His research in preventive maintenance scheduling and management has been funded by industry and the research councils. Together with colleagues, he organised and chaired three European Conferences on Intelligent Management Systems in Operations, Salford, in 1997 and 2001 and 2005. Professor Kobbacy was awarded the Operational Research President s medal in 1990 and was a vice president of the Operational Research Society, UK (2002-2004).

Professor Murthy obtained B.E. and M.E. degrees from Jabalpur University and the Indian Institute of Science in India and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. He is currently a Research Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Queensland and a Senior Scientific Advisor to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has held visiting appointments at several universities in the USA, Europe and Asia. His current research interests include various aspects of technology management (new product development, strategic management of technology), operations management (lot sizing, quality, reliability, maintenance), and post-sale support (warranties, service contracts). He has authored or coauthored 20 book chapters, 145 journal papers and over 130 conference papers. He is a member of several professional societies and is on the editorial boards of seven international journals. He has run short courses for industry on various topics in technology management, operations management and post-sale support in Australia, Asia, Europe and the USA. Professor Murthy has been the co-author of two previous Springer Series in Reliability books: Warranty Management and Product Manufacture (1-85233-933-0, 2005) and Product Reliability: Specification and Performance (due July 2008).