Simulation based Reliability Assessment of Services in the Context of Functional Products

AbstractA simulation-based assessment technique is presented in this paper to analyse the reliability of services in the context of functional products. Functional products are also known as Product-Service systems. A service failure is defined as a service that cannot be completed within a defined time period and then the service reliability is stated as the probability that a supplier can provide functional products to customers within that given time. Based on the structure analysis design technique, a graphic technique is presented to construct the simulation model of a service support system in order to assess its service reliability. A critical activity analysis technique has been proposed to find critical activities that have large influences on the service reliability and service time. The design of the service support system for aircraft engines is used as a case study to show how the principles can be used to improve the service reliability in creating a new service system or improving an existi...