Int. J. Services, Economics and Management, Vol. 7, Nos.

2/3/4, 2016 95

Models of spare parts inventories’ optimisation:

a literature review

Zineb Iraqi*, Abdellah El Barkany and

Ahmed El Biyaali
Faculty of Sciences and Techniques,
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory,
Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University,
B.P. 2202, Route d’Imouzzer, FES,
Maroc, Morocco
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
*Corresponding author

Abstract: In recent decades, several models had been developed to optimise

inventory of spares parts. It is a major challenge for many organisations
because the spares parts include features that differentiate them from other
products. Due to the huge amount of models made by researchers for the
optimisation of spares parts inventories, it is important to collect all the
information concerning these models, and present them in a research paper.
This research paper provides a critical literature review on spare parts
inventories. The first and second part is dedicated to the examination of the
methods and the modifications proposed by the researchers for classification
and demand forecasting of spare parts. The third part focuses on the common
optimisation models of maintenance policies, replenishment policies of spares
parts, and repair capacity.

Keywords: maintenance; spare parts; repair capacity; inventory management;

replenishment; forecasting; classification; optimisation.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Iraqi, Z., El Barkany, A.

and El Biyaali, A. (2016) ‘Models of spare parts inventories’ optimisation:
a literature review’, Int. J. Services, Economics and Management, Vol. 7,
Nos. 2/3/4, pp.95–110.

Biographical notes: Zineb Iraqi is a PhD candidate in the Mechanical

Engineering Department of Science and Technology faculty at Sidi
Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco. She obtained her bachelor’s
degree in Mechanical Design and Analysis, before her master’s degree in
Mechanical Engineering from the same university.

Abdellah El Barkany is a Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department

in Science and Technology Faculty, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University.
He obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering about ‘Contribution to the
analysis of the mechanical behaviour of lifting wire ropes, modelling and
experiments’ from University Hassan II of Casablanca in 2007.

Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

96 Z. Iraqi, A. El Barkany and A. El Biyaali

Ahmed El Biyaali is a Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department in

Science and Technology Faculty, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University.
He obtained his PhD about ‘Atomic and Laser Physics’ in 1987, and ‘Heat of
the buildings’ from INSA of Lyon and Sciences and Techniques Faculty of
Tetouan Moroccco in 1995.

1 Introduction

The availability of spare parts is an important factor in business enterprise. Actually, it

can increase the performance and the effectiveness of the system, and when the system
fails, the downtime can be significantly reduced if all the spare parts needed for the repair
are immediately available (Kennedy et al., 2002). In the opposite, if the spare parts are
not immediately available, their waiting time can cause significant losses on the cost
production. To overcome this issue, spare parts inventories are made to allow the rapid
replacement of failed components and ensure business continuity.
However, the costs of maintaining these spare parts inventories are high and can
significantly increase the cost of products or services offered to customers. Today, and
despite of the presence of a wide variety of inventory management models, the
management of spare parts inventory remains a major challenge for many organisations
because spare parts have characteristics that differentiate them from other products
(Huiskonen, 2001).
On the other hand, the spare parts demands are usually generated by the need of
preventive or corrective. These demands are difficult to predict based on historical data
of past spare parts usages, however, it is well known that maintenance costs are related to
the availability of spare parts. For that reason, the spare part inventory and maintenance
must be considered together to achieve a cost effective. Over the past decades, the joint
management of spare parts inventory and maintenance have acquired great interest in
literature. Researchers for optimising spare parts inventory had developed many models.
The joint optimisation models of spare parts inventory, maintenance, and repair capacity
(Brezavscek and Hudoklin, 2003; De Smidt-Destombes et al., 2007; De Smidt-
Destombes et al., 2009; Wang, 2011, 2012).The purpose of this paper is to review the
huge amount of inventory models developed in the literature in the last decade.
This paper is organised as follows: Section 2 introduces the research method applied
in this paper, describing the sourcing and search strategy, the paper selection process, and
the final analysis. As well as, a process which shows the different phase of the research.
Section 3 provides a literature review of studies addressing spare parts classification.
Section 4 is dedicated to the demand forecasting of spare parts. Section 5 presents a
summary of the joint optimisation models of maintenance policies, replenishment
policies of spares parts, repair capacity. A classification for these models is made based
on the following criteria: replenishment policies of spares parts, repair capacity,
maintenance policies, and single- unit versus multi-unit systems, component repairable or
non- repairable. Indeed, the research’s has been applied in different industries such as
automotive sector, railways, etc. Finally, conclusions are drawn in Section 6 and some
ideas for future research are stated.
 Models of spare parts inventories’ optimisation 97

2 Research methodology

2.1 Literature review methodology

A literature review was conducted to find information from various research papers; it is
generally quite difficult to do the review, for that we have to look for methods on the
review of the research literature. And, we synthesised a method that is explained in
Figure 1. We made research in Google Scholar using the keywords ‘spare parts’,
‘inventory’, ‘classification,’ ‘forecasting’ and ‘optimisation, and it gave us the majority
of the papers, the other papers were found by scanning the references and using these
databases: Science direct, Scopus-Elsevier, Springer Link.
With the help of this procedure, we found 96 articles, which address the problem of
spare parts inventories. We use the method of Figure 1 we still have 49 articles that we
will examine in detail.

Figure 1 Summary of the research methodology considered and performed in this paper

Figure 2 Number of publications by year (see online version for colours)

2.2 Process research

This process provides an overview on the different phases of this paper. First phase
present different method of spare parts classification, after having identified all the parts
required, the classification allows more attention to components considered important
98 Z. Iraqi, A. El Barkany and A. El Biyaali

especially in the case where the list of spare parts includes a large number of components
and the resources required to process them is limited. In the literature several models
have been developed by researchers (Table 1). Second phase, present spare parts demand
forecasting models. The forecasting model are widely used to predict activity levels in
the future based on observations made in the past, the choice of an appropriate
forecasting model must take into account all these peculiarities that affect the forecast
precision. Table 2 summarises the models developed by researchers in the last decade.

Figure 3 Process provide in this research

In the last phase, we examined the joint optimisation models for the management of spare
parts and maintenance. Indeed, recent studies have shown that the joint optimisation of
replenishment policies of spare parts and maintenance strategies generate substantial
gains in availability and costs of operation (Wang, 2011, 2012). While, other researchers
have integrated the replenishment policies of spares parts and the repair capacity
(De Smidt-Destombes et al., 2007, 2009).
 Models of spare parts inventories’ optimisation 99

Table 1 Review of spare parts classification methods

Classification methods
Reference Classification criteria
Methods Quantitative Qualitative
(Partovi and ˗ Cost ˗ ABC-Analysis X
Anandarajan, ˗ Characteristics and integrated with ANN
2002) uncertainty supply Volume (artificial neural
and value demand networks)
(Eaves and ˗ Characteristics and ˗ The method based on X X
Kingman, 2004) uncertainty supply the coefficient of
˗ Demand variability variation of demand
˗ Two-dimensional
matrix
(Braglia et al., ˗ Criticality ˗ AHP (Analytic X
2004) ˗ Cost Hierarchic Process)
˗ Characteristics and
uncertainty supply
˗ Volume and value demand
(Syntetos and ˗ Demand variability ˗ The method based on X X
Boylan, 2005) ˗ Order frequency the coefficient of
variation of demand
˗ Two-dimensional
matrix
(Ramanathan, ˗ Criticality ˗ ABC-Analysis X
2006) ˗ Characteristics and integrated with
uncertainty supply weighted linear
optimisation-
˗ Cost
˗ Volume and value demand
(Chen et al., ˗ Criticality ˗ ABC-Analysis X
2006) ˗ Characteristics and integrated with
uncertainty supply weighted Euclidean
distances with
˗ Volume and value demand quadratic
optimisation.
(Zhou and Fan, ˗ Criticality ˗ ABC-Analysis X
2007) ˗ characteristics and integrated with
uncertainty supply weighted linear
optimisation.
˗ Cost
(Ng, 2007) ˗ Characteristics and ˗ ABC Analysis X
uncertainty supply integrated with
˗ Cost weighted linear
optimisation
˗ Volume and value demand
(Parodi and ˗ Item criticality ˗ Two-dimensional X
Pintelon, 2007) ˗ Item specific matrix
(Boylan et al., ˗ Demand variability ˗ The method based X X
2008) ˗ Order frequency on the coefficient of
variation of demand
˗ Two-dimensional
matrix
100 Z. Iraqi, A. El Barkany and A. El Biyaali

Table 1 Review of spare parts classification methods (continued)

Classification methods
Reference Classification criteria
Methods Quantitative Qualitative
(Chu et al., ˗ Criticality ˗ ABC-Analysis X
2008) ˗ Cost integrated with the
fuzzy logic
(Cavalieri et al., ˗ Criticality ˗ VED X X
2008) ˗ Characteristics and ˗ FSN
uncertainty supply
˗ Cost
˗ Demand v inability
˗ Item specific
(Porras and ˗ Criticality ˗ ABC-Analysis X
Dekker, 2008) ˗ Cost integrated with
weighted linear
˗ Volume and value demand optimisation.
(Teunter et al., ˗ Cost ˗ ABC-Analysis with X
2010) ˗ Volume and value demand SKUs (stock-keeping
units)
(Molenaers ˗ Criticality ˗ AHP and the logic of X
et al., 2012) ˗ Characteristic s and decision diagrams
uncertainty supply
˗ Cost
˗ Volume and value demand

Table 2 Literature review of spare parts demand forecasting models

Modified method Application

Other Forecasting to spare
Reference Traditional
Croston Bootstrap method model parts
time series forecasting
(Syntetos and X Syntetos and Boylan X
Boylan, 2001) approximation
(SBA)
(Willemain X Modified bootstrap X
et al., 2004) method
(Syntetos and X Syntetos and Boylan X
Boylan, 2005) approximation
(SBA)
(Ghodrati and Reliability Operating condition X
Kumar, 2005) Analysis analysis
(Altay et al., X Adjusted Holt and X
2008) Holt-Winters
methods
(Hua and Regression Integrated X
Zhang, 2006) Forecasting Method
 Models of spare parts inventories’ optimisation 101

Table 2 Literature review of spare parts demand forecasting models (continued)

Modified method Application

Other Forecasting to spare
Reference Traditional
Croston Bootstrap method model parts
time series forecasting
(Gutierrez Neural Neural networks
et al., 2008) networks
(Porras and X Modified bootstrap X
Dekker, 2008) method
(Teunter et al., X Modified Croston’s
2011) method
(Zhou and X Modified bootstrap X
Viswanathan, method
2011)
(Romeijnders Two-step Forecasting method X
et al., 2012) process in two stages of parts
needed for the repair
and the number of
repairs for each type
of component
(Moon et al., X Simple combination X
2012) of exponential
smoothing models
(Heinecke X ˗ Croston’s method
et al., 2013)
˗ Syntetos Boylan-
approximation
(SBA).
(Moon et al., Classification ˗ Artificial neural X
2013) models networks (ANN)
˗ Decision diagrams
˗ Logistic
Regression
(Barabadi Reliability Operating condition X
et al., 2014) Analysis analysis
(Rego and X ˗ Simple Moving X
Mesquita, Average ( SMA)
2014)
˗ Syntetos Boylan
˗ approximation
(SBA).
˗ Boostrapping
102 Z. Iraqi, A. El Barkany and A. El Biyaali

In this context, we have summarised the models developed by researchers in the

Table 3, where we made a classification based on the following criteria:
 Replenishment policies of spares parts: There are two spare parts ordering policies: a
continuous review policy in which the stock level is known at all times, and a
periodic review policy suggests carrying out an R with a predetermined periodicity.
Thus Silver et al. (1998) presents the benefits of both control policies, and they
adapted a table (Figure 4) that provides an overview of inventory management
policies that can be used for each class of items.
 Repair capacity: The spare parts which are supplied to the unit are usually repairable
systems whether because they were designed to be, or because it is more economical
to rehabilitate such systems which are often expensive and/or of large size. The
concept of repair capacity was first introduced by (Barlow and Hunter, 1960).
 Maintenance policies: Age-based preventive maintenance: a unit is always replaced
at its age T or failure, whichever occurs first, where T is a constant (Barlow and
Hunter, 1960).
- Block-based or periodic preventive maintenance: a unit is replaced at
prearranged times kT where (K=1,2..,n) independent of the failure history of the
system.
 Systems: A single system is defined as a system which consists of one component;
therefore, a multiple unit system is a system that consists of several components.

Figure 4 Ordering policies according to the class of article (Silver et al., 1998)

3 Spare parts classification methods: literature review

The traditional method of classification of the most used spares in the majority of
industry is the ABC classification, this approach allows to classify the elements in order
of importance according to a single criterion. This has led researchers to extend the
traditional method of ABC classification to multi-criteria ABC classifications including
other parameters. A recent case study of Syntetos et al. (2009) used ABC-analysis to
characterise spare parts based on demand value for an electronics manufacturer. In
addition Syntetos and Boylan (2005) and Boylan et al. (2008) proposed a classification
based on the variability of demand and the control frequency through a two-dimensional
matrix, while Eaves and Kingsman (2004) proposed the distribution of the variance in
demand during the delivery time. Thus, Parodi and Pintelon (2007) combine two criteria
 Models of spare parts inventories’ optimisation 103

‘item criticality’ and ‘item specificity’ into a bi-dimensional matrix to categorise spare
parts into four categories: non-critical items, strategic items, critical items and special
items. Teunter et al. (2010) have showed in their research that the ABC ranking criteria
as demand value and demand volume can lead to cost inefficient solutions for inventory
management. Different methods are proposed by different researchers to implement
multi-criteria ABC classifications, such as Ramanathan (2006), Partovi and Anandarajan
(2002), Zhou and Fan (2007), Ng (2007), Porras and Dekker (2008), and Chen et al.
(2006) proposed the use of ABC-analysis integrated with models like, fuzzy logic,
weighted Euclidean distances with quadratic optimisation, quali-quantitative hierarchical
classification of two or three dimensions, or Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) also used
by Sharma and Garg (2012).
The Vital, Essential, Desirable (VED) is a qualitative method based on consultation
with maintenance experts (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2003), this method could be a difficult
task, because its realisation can suffer subjective judgments of users (Cavalieri et al.,
2008), to limit this problem, VED can be combined with a systematic procedure to
classify parts. In the other hand, Gajpal et al. (1994) proposed VED classification model
based on the use of the analytic hierarchy method (AHP). This method (AHP) was
developed by Thomas Saaty in 1970 and used to break down a complex problem into a
hierarchical system, which establishes binary combinations at each level of the hierarchy.
Thus Braglia et al. (2004) used AHP multi-criteria classification method to classify the
spare parts.
Another quantitative method adopted by Cavalieri et al. (2008), based on the analysis
of the demand patterns and leads to a different kind of classification (mentioned as FSN;
F: fast-moving, S: slow-moving and N: non-moving), which is focused on the moving
rates of the spare parts (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2003). A recent study by Molenaers et al.
(2012) where they are based on the work presented by Braglia et al. (2004) and Syntetos
et al. (2009), to develop a decision diagram based on the critical point, and they used
AHP models. A major benefit of the AHP approach is that both qualitative and
quantitative criteria may be included in the classification system (Drzymalski et al.,
2010). Table 1 summarises the methods of multi-criteria classification for spare parts, as
well as the criteria used by each researcher.

4 Spare parts demand forecasting models: literature review

Johnston and Boylan (1996) proposed an adjusted exponentially weighted moving

average method (EWMA method) for forecasting intermittent demand. Altay et al.
(2008) developed modifications to the Holt and Holt-Winters methods, respectively, for
intermittent demand in presence of trend or trend and seasonality. Most work on
intermittent demand forecasting is based on Croston (1972) influential article; he has
shown that both exponential smoothing and moving average do not perform well for
intermittent demand. They proposed to use simple exponential smoothing (SES) for the
prediction interval separately the impact of demand and the sizes of the demand, when
demand occurs.
In addition, Syntetos and Boylan (2001) showed that Croston’s estimator is biased
and they proposed a bias-adjusted method (Syntetos-Boylan Approximation, SBA) in a
follow-up paper (Syntetos and Boylan, 2005). In addition, Teunter et al. (2011) showed
104 Z. Iraqi, A. El Barkany and A. El Biyaali

that Croston approach is unusable in the case of obsolescence problems, they proposed to
update the probability of the application instead of the application interval. Whereas,
Porras and Dekker (2008) used the boostraping method for forecasting intermittent
demands. In fact, Willemain et al. (2004) conduct tests on industrial items, their results
show that the “bootstrap” produces better results than exponential smoothing and base
Croston method.
Thus, Zhou and Viswanathan (2011) proposed a simpler bootstrapping procedure,
this model showed superior performance when compared to Willemain’s. Rego and
Marco (2015) adopted a bootstrapping model similar to model of Zhou and Viswanathan
(2011) but including probabilistic lead-times. Hua and Zhang (2006) proposed an
application of the regression method for spare parts demand forecast, to predict the
occurrence of non-zero demands, and then to estimate lead-time demand. Thus, Gutierrez
et al. (2008) applied a neural network model to 24 time series showing lumpy demand
patterns, and their method performed better than single exponential smoothing, Croston’s
method and the Syntetos-Boylan approximation. In this area, Romeijnders et al. (2012)
proposed the forecasting method for spare parts in two stages that separately updates the
average number of parts needed for the repair and the number of repairs for each type of
component. Their results show that the two-step process is more efficient than the
method of Croston.
Furthermore, Moon et al. (2012) presented a case study to compare the performance
of different forecasting methods using prediction strategies and direct reporting to predict
the demand for spare parts. In a recent study by Moon et al. (2013), they used a
classification models such as, decision diagrams, artificial neural networks (ANN) and
Logistic Regression, to predict a higher prediction method for spare parts. Thus,
Heinecke et al. (2013) used the method of Croston and Syntetos Boylan-approximation
(SBA). In the other hand, Ghodrati and Kumar (2005) and Barabadi et al. (2014) used
reliability spare model including the operating condition for spares parts forecasting.
Table 2 summarises the spare parts demand forecasting models used by each researcher.

5 Joint optimisation of spare parts inventory, maintenance policies,

and repair capacity.

5.1 Joint optimisation of maintenance policies and the replenishment

policies of spares parts: literature review
There have been many papers addressing spare parts and failure-based maintenance
actions or spare parts with either an age or block-based replacement policy (De Smidt-
Destombes et al., 2009; Wang, 2011, 2012). In this context, Kennedy et al. (2002)
reviewed the problem of spare parts inventory and maintenance. Indeed, Brezavscek and
Hudoklin (2003) considered park of N identical machines where a periodic review
ordering (R, S) is adopted, and a block replacement policy is used to control the stock of
spare parts. Diallo et al. (2008) proposed a joint model where the objective is to
determine the triple (T, R, S) ordering policy that maximises the availability of system.
Although, Vaughan (2005) used a continuous review (s, S), ordering policy where s
the reorder point and S the order-up-to level depend on the time until the next inspection
point. Xie and Wang (2008) and Huang et al. (2008) consider block replacement policies
 Models of spare parts inventories’ optimisation 105

combined with periodic review ordering. While, Wang et al. (2008a, 2008b, 2009)
proposed joint condition based maintenance and continuous review (s, S) ordering policy.
In the same context, Wang (2012) used a typical (S,Q) policy in that ordering Q
according to inventory level S at the time of ordering under a fixed order interval, all
failed items are correctively replaced upon failure while all defective components are
preventively replaced upon inspection. Moreover, Ghorbel et al. (2012) proposed the
model (T, s*, S) which authorises forced replenishment and multi-period particle model
(mT, s*, S), where the period T becomes variable in order to ensure a replenishment at
lower cost. In a recent study, Panagiotidou (2014) used a periodic review policy (R, S),
where an order up to S is placed every R inspection intervals and a continuous review
policy (s, S), where an order up to S is placed whenever the available spare parts are less
than or equal to s. Table 3 summarises the models developed by the researchers cited in
this phase.

5.2 Joint optimisation models of the replenishment policies of spares parts and
repair capacity: literature review
There is only a limited amount of literature that mentions the importance of integrating
the spares parts inventory policies and repair capacity (De Smidt-Destombes et al., 2007,
2009). De Smidt-Destombes et al. (2004) investigated the trade-off between repair
capacity and spare part inventory control for a single k out-of N system under condition
based maintenance. In a later paper of De Smidt-Destombes et al. (2006) they considered
a k-out-of-N system with identical, repairable components under a condition-based
maintenance policy consists of replacing all failed and/or aged components. In this area,
De Smidt-Destombes et al. (2007) considered an installed base of k-out-of-N systems,
each consisting of identical, repairable components. A block replacement policy is used
to maintain each system and all components are repaired by a single repair shop.
There is little publication on the interaction between maintenance, spares part and
repair capacity. In this context, the other paper of De Smidt-Destombes et al. (2009)
developed a model for the joint optimisation of maintenance frequency, spare part
inventories, and spare part repair capacity for a single k-out-of-N system under
condition-based maintenance, and for an installed base of multiple identical k-out-of-N
systems.
While, another study choose another concept for the joint optimisation of spare parts
inventory and maintenance, for example the delay-time concept. In this area, Wang
(2011) used a two-stage failure process characterised by the delay-time concept to model
the failure and inspection processes, and he used a block-based inspection policy where
all components are inspected at the same time regardless of the ages of the components.
In another study, Wang (2012) used the order interval, preventive maintenance interval
and order quantity like the decision variables. Thus, all failed components are
correctively replaced upon failure while all defective components are preventively
replaced upon inspection.
In Table 3, we summarise the main recent references in the current literature for joint
optimisation models of spare parts inventory, maintenance policies, and repair capacity in
the last decade.
 106

Table 3

Joint optimisation models Replenishment policies System Components

Maintenance
Reference Spare part Repair
Maintenance Type Continuous Periodic Multi Single Repairable Non-repairable policies
inventory capacity
(Brezavscek and Hudoklin, 2003) X X (R, S) X X X Periodic Block
(Diallo et al., 2004) X X (T, R, S) X Block based
and repair capacity

(De Smidt-Destombes et al., 2004) X X X Condition based

(Vaughan, 2005) X X (s, S) X X Block based
(De Smidt-Destombes et al., 2006) X X X Condition based
(De Smidt-Destombes et al., 2007) X X X Block-based
(Diallo et al., 2008) X X (s, Q) X X Block-based
(Hu et al., 2008) X X (s, Q) X X X Age-based
(Huang et al., 2008) X X (s, S) X X Periodic/Block
Z. Iraqi, A. El Barkany and A. El Biyaali

(Wang et al., 2008a) X X (s, S) X X X Condition based

(Wang et al., 2008b) X X (s, S) X X X Condition based
(Xie and Wang, 2008) X X (s, S) X X X Age-based
(Wang et al., 2009) X X (s, S) X X X Condition based
(De Smidt-Destombes et al., 2009) X X X X X X Condition based
(Wang, 2011) X X (S,Q) X X Block-based
(Wang, 2012) x X (S,Q) X X Block-based
(Ghorbel et al., 2012) X X (T, s*, S) X X X Block-based
(Panagiotidou, 2014) X X (R.S) (s, S) X X X Condition based
Review of joint optimisation models for spare parts inventory, maintenance policies,
 Models of spare parts inventories’ optimisation 107

6 Conclusion

Despite the increasingly relevant role of spare parts management in industries and its
related challenges, the research and business communities did not devote great attention
to the issue until recently. Very few studies, indeed, focus on reviewing the state of the
art of research advancements in this field, or on analysing managerial practices and the
discrepancies with research. First of all, a comprehensive literature review on research
about spare parts classification, spare parts demand forecasting, and joint optimising
models for spare parts inventory was undertaken. As can be concluded from the three
tables (Tables 1–3), there is a lack of attention to the problem of obsolescence, and the
number of spare parts failure, even if it can have a major influence on costs inventory
(Kennedy et al., 2002). And, it can be concluded that the joint optimisation of spare parts
inventories and maintenance seems to be beneficial compared to separate optimisation. In
the future, joint optimisation of inventory management of spare parts and maintenance
should definitely be studied in more detail. Firstly, we intend to develop a joint
optimisation model that considers the obsolescence problem of spare parts. And,
developed the joint optimisation model including the repair capacity of spare parts, to
maximise availability and minimise cost of spare parts. All these remarks may be of the
idea for future research. This work will serve all researchers interested in the field of
inventory management of spare parts, taking advantage and better identifying scientific
problems.

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