Optimal Burn-in and Preventive Maintenance Modeling with Competing Failure Processes

In this article, we assume that the product in the burn-in procedure only experiences continuous smooth degradation process, while in the field operation period the product experiences both continuous smooth degradation process and shock process. The shock process can cause the product not only traumatic failure, but also additional abrupt degradation damage. After the system reliability model and maintenance model have been proposed, the optimal burn-in setting and age replacement duration are obtained under the considering of minimizing the long run average cost rate. A numerical example with the real data is analyzed to illustrate the application of the model.