An Algorithm for Optimal Allocation of Spare Parts

The algorithm developed in this paper utilized kettelle's [1] idea of the undominated allocation sequence and his way of tableau computation to solve the more general spares allocation problem in the system availability optimization. The algorithm is to optimally allocate resources to the independent modules which are connected to be series/parallel/mixed system configurations. It has advantages over the standard dynamic programming algorithm by eliminating the need for backtracking and by solving the allocation problem for any budget size. By careful heuristic inspection the algorithm can be made very efficient for manual calculations because large blocks of cells can be eliminated from computation. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the allocation algorithm.