Optimal Equipment Replacement Strategies with Index One Electronic Implementations: A Case Study of Zenith Processor Tin Mining Company, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

This article used backward dynamic programming recursions to investigate and obtain alternate optimal replacement policies with respect to the Machine fleet at Zenith Processor Tin Mining Company, Jos, Nigeria. The success of the investigation is largely attributed to the robust survey of the mining process, the deployment of analytic formulas for the determination of the set of feasible machine ages corresponding to each decision year to obviate the need for network diagrams and the exploitation of developed Excel solution templates to eliminate the associated cumbersome manual computations. These templates used the pertinent data, as well as the batch feasible ages at each stage as inputs to the solution process and are quite suitable for sensitivity analyses on starting machine ages with respect to mining systems, in particular and equipment replacement problems in general.