Decision Problem on Imperfect Inspections Combined under Two-Stage Inspection Policy

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors: 

The paper presents an interesting topic with relevance in the industry and where there is need of scientific models to optimice the inspection policy for a product. Moreover, please consider the following comments:

1. Abstract: the term “imperfect inspections” I would change for a “not 100% inspection accuracy”.
2. Introduction: the link from line 131 is not given – explain how the accuracy becomes a decision variable and which models and technologies can be applied for that purpose.
3. Introduction: how it is defined perfect inspections
4. Introduction: in lines 200-201, it is mentioned how maintenance cost rates are at minimum, however what about other key indicators including other costs
5. Methodology: improve figure 1. It can be divided between “the activity or task perform, the data input, the method for processing of the initial data and the output obtained after each step”
6. Results: an analysis of product quality and an overview of all costs including of costs of non-quality products or delays ocurred as a consequence would improve the syndication of results of the paper
7. Results: an analysis of the delay between inspections as well as the condition of the product between inspections needs to be included as part of the results or as a limitation
8. In the discussion section, an approach of how to assess and implement the proposed model, also for other potential cases or industrial sectors, can be discussed to enrich the paper

Best regards

Author Response

Dear Anonymous Reviewer,

thank you for your valuable remarks. I hope the changes made in the manuscript “Decision problem on imperfect inspections combined under two-stage inspection policy”, addressing your suggestions, will improve it and make it worth publishing. Some of your suggestions allowed the author to notice new directions of possible future development of the study on the mixing of imperfect inspections.

The detailed list of changes is presented in the uploaded file Response to Rev_1.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

small typos in the text

in the introduction, no mention of inspections of the external conditions of the building, which although more visible than other components (plants, for example) have important economic implications both in terms of maintenance and inspection. see for example Ferraz, G. T., De Brito, J., De Freitas, V. P., & Silvestre, J. D. (2016). State-of-the-art review of building inspection systems. Journal of performance of constructed facilities, 30(5), 04016018; Kuboki, N., & Takata, S. (2019). Selecting the optimum inspection method for preventive maintenance. Procedia CIRP, 80, 512-517.

No mention, also, of the option (in addition to sensors and test equipment) of inspections with data collection via UAVs. see for example Hallermann, N., & Morgenthal, G. (2014, July). Visual inspection strategies for large bridges using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). In Proc. of 7th IABMAS, International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (pp. 661-667). Zhang, Y., Yuan, X., Fang, Y., & Chen, S. (2017). UAV low altitude photogrammetry for power line inspection. ISPRS International Journal of GEO-information, 6(1), 14.

Also the topics of related costs must be introduced: economic affordability is not as widely studied in the literature (for buildings, and even less for plants and technical systems), although it is a necessary aspect of assessing/comparing alternatives (for example: Grosso, R., Mecca, U., Moglia, G., Prizzon, F., & Rebaudengo, M. (2020). Collecting built environment information using UAVs: time and applicability in building inspection activities, Sustainability, 12(11), 4731; Farahani, A., Wallbaum, H., & Dalenbäck, J. O. (2019). Optimized maintenance and renovation scheduling in multifamily buildings–a systematic approach based on condition state and life cycle cost of building components. Construction management and economics, 37(3), 139-155).

table 2 should be kept together for better readability

figure 7: it is not clear why there are different solutions; the commentary text needs to be improved

also in figure 8, clarify the comment for the two different trend lines

Author Response

Dear Anonymous Reviewer,

thank you for your valuable remarks. I hope the changes made in the manuscript “Decision problem on imperfect inspections combined under two-stage inspection policy”, addressing your suggestions, will improve it and make it worth publishing. Some of your suggestions allowed the author to notice new directions of possible future development of the study on the mixing of imperfect inspections.

The detailed list of changes is presented in the uploaded file Response to Rev_2.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf