Optimal Maintenance Policy for Equipment Submitted to Multi-Period Leasing as a Circular Business Model

Abstract

The leasing of various types of equipment plays a significant role in reducing resource consumption, reducing the need for frequent replacements, and lessening the environmental impact of equipment manufacturing and disposal. This paper examines a maintenance policy for equipment that is leased multiple times throughout its lifespan. If the equipment fails to perform as expected within the basic and extended warranty durations, the lessor makes minimal repairs at its own expense. Once the warranty period has elapsed, the lessor is still responsible for carrying out any necessary repairs, but the lessee is required to pay for them. The warranty periods are not uniform. To reduce the frequency of breakdowns, the lessor carries out preventive maintenance (PM) between successive lease periods, with the aim of reducing the age of the equipment to some extent. The costs associated with PM depend on the set of actions to be performed and their associated efficiency in terms of age reduction. A mathematical model is proposed to simultaneously find the optimal efficiency levels of PM to be carried out between successive lease periods and the optimal extended warranty periods to be offered to lessees in order to maximize the lessor’s expected total profit throughout the equipment’s lifecycle. To demonstrate the use of the developed model, a numerical example and a sensitivity study are discussed. Our model demonstrates its ability to provide valuable insights and facilitate decision-making in the establishment of leasing contracts.