Analyzing the Return on Investment Associated with Prognostics and Health Management of Electronic Products

Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) provides an opportunity for lowering sustainment costs, improving maintenance decision-making and providing product usage feedback into the product design and validation process. The adoption of PHM approaches requires consideration and planning for integration into new and existing systems, operations, and processes. However, PHM must provide a significant advantage in order to add value for the maintenance process and commitments to implement and support PHM approaches cannot be made without the development of supporting business cases. The realization of PHM requires implementation at different levels of scale and complexity. The maturity, robustness, and applicability of the underlying predictive algorithms impact the overall efficacy of PHM within an enterprise. The utility of PHM to inform decision-makers within tight scheduling constraints and under different operational profiles likewise affects the cost avoidance that can be realized. This paper presents a case study conducted using a stochastic discrete event simulation model to determine the benefits and potential cost avoidance offered by electronics PHM (e-PHM). The case study of a multifunctional display in a Boing 737 compared the life cycle costs of a system employing unscheduled maintenance approaches to the same system using a precursor to failure PHM approach.