Appropriate strategy selection for reliability-centered maintenance of one-shot systems using fuzzy model

PurposeThis paper addresses special reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) strategies for one-shot devices by providing fuzzy inferences system with the assumption that, to data, there is no data available on their maintenance. As far as one-shot devices are concerned, the relevant data is inadequate.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, a fuzzy expert system is proposed to effectively select RCM strategies for one-shot devices. In this research: (1) a human expert team is provided, (2) spatial RCM strategies for one-shot devices and parameters bearing upon those strategies are determined, (3) the verbal variables of the expert team are transformed into fuzzy sets, (4) the relationship between parameters and strategies are designed whereupon a model is developed by MATLAB software, (5) Finally, the model is applied to a real-life one-shot system.FindingsThe finding of this study indicates that the proposed fuzzy expert system can determine the parameters affecting the choice of the appropriate one-shot RCM strategies, and a fuzzy inference system can help for effective decision making.Originality/valueThe developed model can be used as a fast and reliable method for determining an appropriate one-shot RCM strategy, whose results can be relied upon with a suitable approximation in respect of the behavior test. To the best authors’ knowledge, this problem is not addressed yet.