IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, SETTING METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM

The invention provides an image forming apparatus which can reflect the influence caused by the fluctuation of components and set an appropriate replacement time for each image unit. The image formingapparatus (1) includes: an image unit (20) including an image carrier (21); a transfer unit (30) disposed adjacent to the image carrier (21); and a control unit (7) that sets an available period of the image unit (20) on the basis of the relative positional relationship between the image unit (20) and the transfer unit (30), and manages the available period. For example, the control unit (7) acquires first position information (64) relating to the image unit (20), acquires second position information (63) relating to the transfer unit (30), and determines the relative position relationship between the image unit (20) and the transfer unit (30) on the basis of the first position information (64) and the second position information (63). 本发明提供一种图像形成装置，能够反映因部件的波动产生的影响，对各个图像单元设定适当的更换时期。图像形成装置(1)具备：图像单元(20)，包含像载体(21)；