Repair vs Replace Decision Framework
A repair-versus-replace decision should compare future risk, maintainability, downtime consequence, and operating performance—not only today’s invoice.
Frame the decision horizon
Choose a study period that matches expected remaining life, capital constraints, and operational strategy. Capture repair frequency, repair scope, replacement and installation cost, expected operating savings, and outage consequence.
Assess technical risk
Repeated symptoms may signal a systemic failure mode, obsolete support base, or loss of design margin. Review defect elimination potential, safety, compliance, lead times, and whether a repair restores the required capability.
Use comparable economics
Keep, replace, and defer scenarios should have the same time horizon and cost boundary. Discounted cash flow may be needed for large investments; a simple comparison is only a transparent screening method.
Make the decision auditable
Document assumptions and sensitivity to repair frequency, production impact, and expected savings. Revisit the decision when actual failure or support cost departs from the scenario.
Related tools
Use repair vs replace, lifecycle maintenance cost, and downtime cost.