Presentation
An Optimal Upgrade Strategy for Product Users Considering Future Uncertainty
IIE Annual Conference
(2010)
Abstract
Product life ends when a product cannot adapt to future changes, such as advances of technology, changes in
customers’ preferences, etc. Upgrade is one of the efficient ways to extend a product’s life. Upgrade planning is
complex, however, both for product developers and product users. Upgrade problems can be modeled as a series of decisions over time, and involve trade-offs between product performance, operation and new component costs. In addition, these upgrade decisions might be influenced by future technology uncertainty. This paper proposes a
quantitative method based on dynamic programming (DP) to help upgrade planners or product users to find an
optimal upgrade plan incorporating the forecasts for future technology and sustainability. Through this method, total cost can be minimized by upgrading appropriate modules at the right time with no or minimal impact on the system performance.
Keywords
- Upgradability,
- Technology Forecasting,
- Dynamic Programming
Disciplines
Publication Date
2010
Comments
This is a proceeding published as Chung, Wu Hsun, Gül Okudan, and Richard A. Wysk. "An Optimal Upgrade Strategy for Product Users Considering Future Uncertainty." In IIE Annual Conference. Proceedings, p. 1. Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), 2010. Posted with permission.
Citation Information
Wu-Hsun Chung, Gül E. Kremer and Richard A. Wysk. "An Optimal Upgrade Strategy for Product Users Considering Future Uncertainty" IIE Annual Conference (2010) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/gul-kremer/151/