Project staff and support

James Rhys Kearney (Intern, University of Salford)
Peter Jackson (Company supervisor, LSC Group Limited)
Khairy Kobbacy (Academic mentor, University of Salford)
David Percy (Academic mentor, University of Salford)
Melvin Brown (Technology Translator, Industrial Mathematics KTN)

This project forms part of the LSC Group R&D project called "Deployable Decision Support Environment" (DDSE). DDSE is an integrated modelling environment for the prediction of through life support characteristics of capital assets. The environment includes both analytical and simulation based predictive capability and will accommodate consideration of both through life affordability and performance.

This Internship project was carried out at LSC Group, in conjunction with University of Salford. It it part of the KTN's Industrial Mathematics Internships programme, co-funded by EPSRC.

"The project has been of benefit to all parties and has given Rhys an insight into the practical applications of his research. By combining his research with LSC’s domain and system knowledge we have taken forward the thinking and design of simulation to improve the predictions used for supporting in-field decisions. The decision environment has a multitude of variables and simulation modelling allows what-if scenarios to be investigated. The results of these investigations provide optimised solutions to be recommended. The value to LSC has been not only the opportunity to trial alternative prediction methods, but also that the lessons learned in this research project are being applied now in other LSC Group projects", said company supervisor Peter Jackson, Executive Consultant - Performance Management, LSC Group.

Project Summary

The collaborating company, LSC Group, is undertaking an R&D project called ‘Deployable Decision Support Environment’ (DDSE) to create an integrated modelling environment for the prediction of through life support characteristics of capital assets.

In the assessment of Through Life Costs within the decision environment, this internship project embedded novel models of failure and repair from reliability theory within a discrete event simulation model of a military deployment used to analyse the availability, reliability and maintainability requirements of a system of through its operational life.

The project has provided LSC with the ability to assess the feasibility and value of a tool to examine different repair and replacement strategies, which can be deployed in response to changing operational circumstances. This capability is intended for use by unit/fleet commanders in the field, who will be able to explore operational benefits and the costs of different maintenance strategies and actions. The work also feeds into the cost-capability optimisation development programme which also is part of the DDSE project.

"Rhys has been studying the theory of reliability analysis for two years at the University of Salford and this internship with the LSC Group provided him with an excellent opportunity to experience the practical aspects of implementing some of these methods in a commercial environment. His enhanced understanding of repairable systems and maintenance processes will serve him very well when defending his doctoral thesis and subsequently when seeking employment in academia or industry. As his academic supervisor, I also appreciated the opportunity to meet with the industrial researchers and EPSRC representatives from the Industrial Maths KTN to discuss the project work Rhys was involved with", said academic mentor David Percy, Centre for Operational Research and Applied Statistics, University of Salford.