Common use of Research Questions Clause in Contracts

Research Questions. The need for this research has risen from a design rule as specified in ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ et al. (2010). In this research, a control framework for maintenance of spare parts is given for an environ- ment like that of NedTrain. In this framework, it is stipulated that the interface agreement between inventory control and a repair shop should be based on lead-times. At NedTrain, there is an R&D program that is dealing with maintenance development. Currently at ▇▇▇- Train, a Min-max control mechanism is used. The steering committee of the maintenance development research program at NedTrain is wondering which interface agreement has a better performance under which conditions. One of the aims of this research is to com- pare both interface agreement with related different control mechanisms and decide which interface agreement holds promise for further implementation. Before the two interface agreements can be compared, for both agreements, close to op- timal values for the turn-around stock, minimum level or threshold has to be determined. This has to be done because otherwise the comparison is not fair. Obtaining the optimal configuration of the Min-max interface agreement is also very useful for NedTrain, because when doing this, it can be seen whether it is possible to improve the perfromance of the currently used Min-max interface agreement. This is the second aim of this research. These aims lead to the following research questions: 1. Can the performance of the fill rate and other KPIs of interest, of the currently used Min-max interface agreement be improved, by changing the values of the turn-around stock and the minimum level? 2. Which interface agreement holds more promise for further implementation, the Min-max interface agreement or the Lead-time interface agreement? 3. In the upper row there is the As-Is situation. In the As-Is situation, interface agreements are compared using the current values for the turn-around stock and minimum level. In case of the Lead-time interface agreement for the threshold, the turn- around stock minus the minimum level is used. It is tested which interface agreement performs better under the current settings, indicated with the arrow in the upper row. The lower row of the matrix is the To-be Situation. In this situation for both interface agreement, an optimization model to determine the turn-around stock and the minimum levels (threshold) is used. Two other aspects are compared. First, the performance differ- Min−max interface agreement Lead−time interface agreement As−Is Situation To be Situation