Workforce Agility in Repair and Maintenance Environments

I this paper we consider workforce management in repair/maintenance environments in which repairmen are cross-trained fo affend more than one fype of machine. In this confext, we sfudy the machine-repairman problem wifh heferogeneous machines buf with partially cross-trained repairmen. We introduce simple repairmanassignment rules as well as machine-priority rules thaf are effecfive in mirumizing fhe machine downfime costs, or balancing fhe percenfage of working machines of differenf fypes. We show fhaf sfafic machine priorify rules are effecfive in minimizing sysfems downfime cosfs, while a generalized version of fhe longesf queue policy is effecfive in balancing fhe percenfage of working machines. We also infroduce fhe concepf of hidden symmetry in repair environmenfs, and show fhaf fhe well-known chain repairman skill sef sfrucfure performs very well in repair environmenfs wifh hidden symmefry. Finally, we provide insighfs info fhe design and confrol issues of repair/mainfenance sysfems wifh cross-frained repairmen.