Author: neilw

Matthew Bromberg, president, Aftermarket at Pratt & Whitney spoke about the changes coming in the MRO industry this spring at the MRO conference in Phoenix, Ariz.

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) is a $60 billion business and growing and right now the industry is at an inflection point. The aircraft industry is building a fleet of younger, more reliable, more maintenance-friendly aircraft. Today, the average aircraft is 15 years old and the fleet is only going to get younger. Since younger aircraft require less maintenance, the demand for MRO services will also drop. At the same time, our existing MRO infrastructure is benefiting from economies of scale. Consequently, the industry will require less diversity among parts, tools and shops. This means less capacity is required to deliver the same MRO services. In spite of these factors, we are adding MRO capacity worldwide at a furious pace, particularly in emerging markets. The current demand for MRO services is strong, but its growth is slowing. On the other hand, the capacity to deliver MRO services is sufficient, yet it is increasing.

Just Add Innovation
Addressing this supply and demand issue is going to require the industry to incorporate innovation in new ways to meet and exceed customer needs in a challenging environment.
Historically, the MRO industry has been slow to adopt new technologies. Walk into any MRO facility, including those at Pratt & Whitney, and you see mountains of paper, job tickets, boxes of inventory and hardbound engine manuals.
Over the past decade, engine turnaround time across the industry has actually increased from 62 days to 71 days—a 15 percent erosion. But more rapid adoption of technology will enable the MRO industry to drive productivity. We have access to great resources like electronic work instructions, real time feedback from tools and visual recognition technology. We also need to commit to paperless environments, truly integrated supply chains, and data sharing across the value stream.

Big Data
Today’s aircraft and engines are generating more real-time data than ever before. MRO providers can capture and share this data in a fashion never before thought possible.
Pratt & Whitney is using the increase in data to predict engine in-flight shutdowns.

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by Jim Kraus

MROs are under constant pressure to raise productivity while controlling costs. Specifying the right surface finishing product can allow airline MRO facilities to achieve the performance they need to maintain efficient and effective operations.

Recently, Saint-Gobain Abrasives worked closely with a major U. S.-based commercial airline to demonstrate the performance of their abrasives solutions. A three-part test was conducted at the airline’s maintenance facility to compare the cycle time and performance of Saint-Gobain’s Norton Multi-Air A975 NorGrip Multi-Air Discs, Norton Vortex Rapid Prep quick change discs and Norton Vortex Rapid Prep non-woven quick change discs against conventional competing products.

Designed for demanding dual action (DA) sanding applications, Norton Multi-Air A975 combines dust extraction with a patented ceramic aluminum oxide (A/O) abrasive. This combination results in a vacuum disc product that helps increase productivity and eliminate harmful dust.

Norton Vortex Rapid Prep non-woven products combine high-performance patented Vortex abrasives grain and proprietary smear-free resin technology allowing for faster throughput and reduced labor requirements. “Three-dimensional” construction allows all three faces of the disc to be involved in the finishing, as opposed to conventional products that use just the bottom layer of abrasive. Discs can be used down to the button with consistent cut-rate throughout an extended product life. Norton Vortex Rapid Prep can perform several times better than conventional discs on aircraft repair work including epoxy adhesive removal from carbon fiber inner skin, carbon fiber and copper removal, and aircraft airframe blending mismatch and corner break on aluminum spars.

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by Jason Dickstein

What is an approved part? Many mechanics rely on their company’s receiving inspection systems to ensure that they have the parts that they need, when they need them. But the real responsibility for airworthiness rests in the hands of the mechanic, so an understanding of what the FAA considers to be “approved parts” can be important to making sure that the job gets done, right.

When we are installing parts, we often refer to those installed parts as replacement or modification parts. That is, they are either directly replacing a prior part, or they are modifying the configuration with a different part that accomplishes the intended goals. It is normal for us to refer to the “good parts” that we want to use as “approved parts,” but what does this term really mean? Which aircraft parts are really “approved parts?”

In 2009, the FAA created a new regulation for replacement and modification parts. That regulation greatly expanded the scope of who is covered by the FAA’s production regulations.

The old rule only applied to persons who produced parts for sale for installation on a type certificated product. This mean that many categories of parts were not covered by the old FAA rule, including parts produced for installation by a repair station (not offered for sale) and parts made for other industries (not intended for installation on a type certificated aircraft).

The new rule applied to any person who knows, or reasonably should know, that at least one of their parts will end up on type certificated aircraft. This much broader scope was intended by the FAA to better cover the wide gamut of parts that are produced and used in civil aviation.

In the preamble to the rule, the FAA confirmed that “[t]he provisions of § 21.9 apply to the producer of any part that may be used as a replacement or modification article, not just parts that were produced.” The FAA stated that their regulatory intent was to ensure that installers only install parts for which a suitability determination has been made (either by the producer or by the installer).

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By Charlotte Adams

Aviation maintenance software is pervasive today, as managers shift from pencil and paper to some degree of digital assistance. And there’s a world of choice. At last count some 100 different maintenance and engineering applications occupied this space, and now there are probably more. There’s something for everyone—it’s just a matter of finding out what the options are.

Although there is much overlapping between offerings, there are certain broad classifications. Some applications, like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, include financials and human resources. Others, which are extremely broad within the maintenance arena, may call themselves aviation or MRO ERPs. Many applications inhabit the middle ground, helping users to manage a wide range of maintenance functions. The differences, however, seem to be somewhat a matter of interpretation.

Other applications are more specialized to maintenance, focusing, for example, on tracking the status of projects or regulatory and business documentation. As a minimum, most maintenance software applications do job tracking at some level. Others monitor the supply chain—parts, pricing and availability. Still others help managers to keep a very granular view of project status, so that resources can be shifted based on need.

The processing structure and the interface also vary. Some applications are installed on the user’s internal servers. More and more applications developers also are offering remote cloud-based processing, as well,
along with applications geared to mobile devices and interfaces that are specialized to job functions.

We take a look at almost 20 companies, some of which feature multiple offerings. It is intended to give readers an idea of the scope and variety of maintenance software offerings available today.

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When you look at the MRO business today, you’d think that it would be very hard for one shop to really differentiate itself from another. After all practically every step of every inspection or maintenance procedure is spelled-out in the aircraft OEM’s approved maintenance manual. And those are “rules” you just can’t afford to break.

But thankfully, innovation is alive and thriving at MROs around the world. To stay ahead of their competition, leading shops are examining and rethinking every aspect of their daily business to find new and innovative processes to save time and money.

Whether it’s shaving a few minutes off of a task or developing a new tool or software application to streamline a process, even a small innovation can reap huge savings for its customers and translate into a significant advantage for the shop.

Innovation Is Where You Find It
Back in the day “innovations” just sort of happened. You’d find a better way to do something and it became part of a company’s culture. There’s too much riding on it to leave innovation to chance today. Leading MROs are making innovation part of their corporate culture.

“Our entire motivation for innovation comes from our Chairman down,” stated Dany Kleiman, aviation group VP, repair and engineering for AAR Corp. “We are always working in three key areas: One is to stay close to our customers. Second is to be innovative. And third is to execute. That’s the golden trio we follow in our planning.”

Kleiman said that AAR’s large airline customers are encouraging the MRO to look for ways to innovate and improve processes. “We actually got a mandate from one to re-plan their scheduled maintenance in a way that will drive their turn-times down and save on some routine inspections,” he said.

“As an MRO we are really selling labor and any way we can reduce labor time becomes direct savings to our customers,” explained AAR’s VP & CIO, Kevin Larson. “One way we’re reducing turn time is through our StAAR work card and labor collection system. One of its big benefits is touch-screen access that drive the functions around time, attendance and quality assurance.”

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by Joy Finnegan, Editor in Chief, Aviation Maintenance Magazine

Google Glass. The Tesla electric car. 3D printing. Innovations in our world just keep coming. Technology is advancing at breakneck speed. Is innovation happening in MRO? Or are things still happening in the hangar with the old school thinking and technology of the 50s and 60s?

In this issue we wanted to take a look at the amazing things MROs are doing to stay on top in what is one of the most competitive but necessary business sectors in aviation­—MRO. We were not disappointed. The leading MROs around the world shared some of the most innovative ideas they have put into practice at their facilities. They are impressive.

How much time is spent searching for parts? On the cover you see the MEERA (Mobile Enabled Engine Repair Application) project implemented by TAP M&E. This project uses RFID to track engine components during overhaul with the goal of optimizing the turn-around time. The handheld device can be swept over a storage or shelving unit and, when it senses the part being searched for, an audible alarm goes off. Time saved equals money saved.

An OEM procedure to check the abradable engine shroud on the GE90 engine required 48 hours to perform, if a run-up was required. A clever technician at AFI KLM E&M’s engine facility devised a low-tech alternative procedure using a roll of tape, a pen and a ruler. Hats off to that technician, Claude Dubois, for his creative thinking that reduced the procedure to a quick three hours and doesn’t require fan blade removal, special tooling or a run-up.

Lufthansa Technik told us about their CAIRE program. Initially developed through a research project that focused on finding a complete, reproducible process for repairing composites using a stationary robotic device. Once that process and machine were produced, a further research project began to make the process mobile. Composite Adaptable Inspection and Repair, or CAIRE, was the result.

A version of the robot was developed allowing mobile teams to diagnose and repair large areas of fuselage and wing damage on wing, once again saving time and money.

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