Citation for published version Wu , Shaomin and Coolen , Frank P . A . ( 2013 ) A Cost - based Importance Measure for System

In reliability engineering, component importance measures are used to prioritise components in a system for purposes such as reliability improvement and maintenance planning. Existing importance measures have paid little attention to the costs incurred by maintaining a system and its components within a given time period. Cost-effectiveness analysis, however, is critically important in increasingly competitive markets. This paper proposes a new cost-based importance measure which considers costs incurred by maintaining a system and its components within a finite time horizon. Possible extensions are discussed and examples are given to show the use of the new measure. ⋆ Recommended citation: Wu, S., Coolen, F.A. (2013) A cost-based importance measure for system components: an extension of the Birnbaum importance, European Journal of Operational Research, 225, pp. 189–195