Application of Markov Chains for Modeling and Managing Industrial Electronic Repair Processes

Abstract

This paper presents a research of Markov chain based modeling possibilities of electronic repair processes provided by electronics manufacturing service (EMS) companies. These stochastic processes are considered as business-like, industrialized activities that are typically complex with a high number of process states and many possible paths from the start state to the absorbing end states. Two models based on absorbing and acyclic absorbing Markov chains are introduced in order to model these processes. The presented method provides a quick tool for determining the most important operational and statistical parameters of the process and mapping the paths that contribute the most to the total load of the process. These results support several managerial applications concerning e.g. process improvement, quality control and resource allocation. The proposed model is illustrated with an industrial application.