Maintenance-cost modeling for a refrigerated-trailer fleet

The distribution of many perishable products (e.g. frozen foods) requires the use of refrigerated trailers. Like most other systems, refrigerated trailers are subject to failures and repair upon failure. The purpose of this study was to model the costs of operational failures and repairs related to the refrigeration systems used in a fleet of refrigerated trailers. Specifically, the authors applied a modelling methodology to a fleet of refrigerated trailers affiliated with a large processed meat company, but the work presented in this paper is applicable to any organization having refrigerated transportation systems.