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<p>This study examines 48 M1 tank components for possible application of an optimum age replacement policy. The purpose is to support a broader study associated with the Reliability Centered - Inspect and Repair Only as Necessary (RC-IRON) program. The program provides depot level maintenance to tanks transferred or retrograded from Germany to the United States. An optimal age replacement policy reduces the number of failures while minimizing the cost associated with failure by replacing some older components before they fail. The component data for this analysis was drawn from the Field Exercise Data Collection (FEDC) at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California. This thesis begins with a discussion of a methodology for determining an optimal replacement time. Distribution analysis is performed on component lifetimes as well as delay and repair times due to failure. The various costs associated with failure are estimated. The application of an age replacement policy was found to be beneficial for a few components and only when they had a high down-time cost. A graphical procedure is used to show sensitivity of the optimum policy to changes in cost. Component simulations are performed to pretest the results of a proposed maintenance policy. A six component system is simulated to demonstrate how the components could be tied together for later system level analysis. Although this study deals with the M1 Abrams tank, the methodology and procedures detailed may be applied to other systems with components that wear out.
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<br>Subjects: Maintenance; Age Replacement Policy; Optimal Replacement; Preventive Maintenance</div>
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Wilhelm, John A.</div>
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