Level of Repair Analysis

Level of Repair Analysis (LORA) is used as an analytical methodology used to determine when an item will be replaced, repaired, or discarded based on cost considerations and operational readiness requirements. For a complex engineering system containing thousands of assemblies, sub-assemblies, components, organized into several levels of indenture and with a number of possible repair decisions, LORA seeks to determine an optimal provision of repair and maintenance facilities to minimize overall system life-cycle costs. Logistics personnel examine not only the cost of the part to be replaced or repaired but all of the elements required to make sure the job is done correctly. This includes the skill level of personnel, support equipment required to perform the task, test equipment required to test the repaired product, and the facilities required to house the entire operation.

LORA analysis establishes who and where each unit will be repaired and determines if it is more cost effective to discard an item than attempt to repair it. While this kind of analysis seems costly and unnecessary, at enterprise scales over many years, significant cost savings can be realized.

For example, the LORA process may discover that replacing a part actually costs hundreds of times that amount, when all cost are considered (maintenance manpower, warehousing facilities, shipping, etc.). If this part is replaced hundreds of times per year, over the course of many years, then there may be an opportunity to save money by adjusting the repair process to leverage this economy of scale (reliability improvements, component repair, etc.).

This analysis drives the maintenance support for each repairable unit analyzed. LORA is the most important physical supportability analysis business decision made during acquisition of a system.

LORA is performed in two steps:

The LORA process produces the final support solution for the system. It determines where each required maintenance action will be performed, the physical resources that must be available to support performance of maintenance, and what the support infrastructure must be capable of sustaining throughout the operational life of the system. The results of LORA are documented and used as the basis for development of the physical resources for support of the system.

The LORA process starts by identification of the options where maintenance can be performed. It is common for systems to use 2 or 3 levels of maintenance. LORA produces a decision for each item within the system, indicating where each maintenance action for the item will be performed.

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