| Abstract: | A system receives shocks at successive random points of discrete time, and each shock causes a positive integer-valued random amount of damage which accumulates on the system one after another. The system is subject to failure and it fails once the total cumulative damage level first exceeds a fixed threshold. Upon failure the system must be replaced by a new and identical one and a cost is incurred. If the system is replaced before failure, a lower cost is incurred.On the basis of some assumptions, we specify a replacement rule which minimizes the longrun (expected) average cost per unit time and possesses the control limit property, Finally, an algorithm is discussed in a special case. |
