The Specific Need for Change of Strategy in Aircraft Maintenance Organizations - Research Paper Example

Introduction The air carriers, globally, are facing with the continuous problem of addressing maintenance error. Mainly because of the human factor that is involved in aircraft maintenance. There have been a number of studies and execution of human factors programs and still there are quite a few variations, the way these programs are put into practice and therefore the diverse outcomes. Airplane maintenance task contains fast turnaround, lot of stress with probably plenty of tasks being carried out by large numbers of employees on extremely difficult and technically sophisticated systems in a restricted area. Incidents around the globe in the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, concerning crashes or serious accidents with airplane, gave strong warning to the aviation world that even though the airplane were becoming more dependable, the human being in the process had the potential to annihilate these technological progresses (Xavier, 2005). The contemporary airplanes symbolize a tremendously multifaceted equipment class. These tactical resources have thousands of safety-critical components that are extremely challenging to supervise and maintain, even in the absence of regulatory and safety consents. It is considered that for commercial airlines, the military, aircraft and engine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and other organizations that maintain aircraft, the skill to properly follow the present and historical changes to configurations is essential to accomplishment. Conventional strategies have been mostly unsuccessful to offer this potential since they cannot simply maintain changes and modifications. The outcome is more compliance risk and loss of production because of time-consuming, error-prone manual procedures. Under the present technological advancement the aircraft maintenance managers must understand the need to fully automated solution for aircraft life-cycle management which offers precise, real-time configuration data on demand, not only just for current configurations but for any earlier configuration or point in time. This study looks into history and background of aircraft maintenance and the existing system of maintenance. Further this paper recommend for a change of strategy in aircraft maintenance and outlines solution necessities and technology for the automation of asset life-cycle management for institutions that maintain aircraft and their connected major assemblies. It explains essential competences for the life-cycle management of aircraft configurations, as well as important capabilities for real-time historical component life accounting (IBM, 2007). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This research paper will explain historical and existing aircraft maintenance system adopted and performed geographically at maintenance and repair facilities. By examining the different data sets from historic and existing trends, the research study establishes the need for automation in the field of aviation maintenance for reducing the maintenance error especially the human factor error. The positive and negative aspect of automation is briefly explained. At present there are some systems to answer the need to lessen maintenance error, both from a safety and a financial viewpoint and how these systems have been developed, adapted, or improved to tackle maintenance error are also explained. Evaluation of each system is carried out by reviewing the relevant literatures to better know how these systems are used today. There is no hierarchy entailed by the order in which these methods are presented. The contemporary airplanes symbolize a tremendously multifaceted equipment class. These tactical resources have thousands of safety-critical components that are extremely challenging to supervise and maintain, even in the absence of regulatory and safety consents. Hence it is pointed out in this paper the need for strategic change in aircraft maintenance, a way ahead for the future. The rationale for such a study is evident. This could potentially advance the quality of the aircraft maintenance being carried out which will reduce the aviation maintenance error to a negligible level and an improved financial benefits as well as time management for the air carriers. Background Aircraft maintenance and inspection error has been a contributory factor in a number of recent air carrier accidents. One of the main factors is considered to be the human error. When persons are involved in an activity, it is expected to contain certain percent of human error. There is a thought that the number of maintenance concern accidents and incidents to public transport aircraft has gone up considerably . It is further explained that maintenance concern as one which is not essentially a maintenance error, it may be a design error, however one which is of concern to the maintenance staffs as frontline supervisors of technical problems in daily operations (AEROSPACE, 1993). Looking back on the investigations of actions and inactions by operational personnel concerned in accidents and incidents has been the conventional method employed by aviation organizations to evaluate the impact of human factor in regard to maintenance and safety. The recognized safety pattern, and established beliefs about what comprises safe and unsafe acts, in such a way that it looks back to an event under consideration till the investigators find a behaviour that did not produce the outcomes. In such a situation, human error is accomplished. This decision is usually arrived to the inadequate consideration of the processes that could have caused the awful result. In addition, when evaluating events, investigators identify that the behaviours shown by operational staffs were wrong, since the pessimistic results are a matter of evidence. In this sense, it is suggested that investigators probing human performance in safety incidences benefit from the retrospection. Additionally, in aviation, traditional safety awareness perceives that safety is the topmost priority. Therefore, human conducts and management in aviation operations are measured to be complete safety oriented. As a matter of fact, this is not true, and a more practical approach is to think human conducts and decision-making in operational situation as a negotiation between productions oriented behaviours and decisions. The best possible behaviours to get the genuine production demands of the operational assignment at hand may not be completely compatible with the best behaviours to attain the hypothetical safety demands. The entire production systems, and aviation is no exclusion, produce a migration of behaviours: under the crucial of financial side and effectiveness, public are enforced to function at the boundaries of the system safety space. Therefore, human decision-making in operational perspective lies at the meeting point of production and safety, and hence is a compromise. Indeed, the question is that how efficiently the experts can handle the compromise between production and safety. Operational errors do not exist in the individual, but operational errors basically exist in latency within job and situational features in the background, and appear as the result of managing carelessly between safety and production goals, mostly prejudiced by the common attitudes across culture. Such compromise connecting production and safety is a multifaceted and subtle balance and individuals are usually very efficient in applying the right method to productively accomplish it, thus the remarkable safety record of aviation. Persons do seldom mishandle task or situational features and fail in harmonizing the compromise, consequently causative to safety failures. So as to appreciate human performance in perspective, the aviation industry needs to capture, the device underlying winning compromises while working at the edges of the system, rather than those of the unsuccessful. Understanding the human involvement to successes and failures in aviation maintenance can be better accomplished by examining usual operations, rather than accidents and incidents (Maurino, N.D.). Various Systems Existing in Aviation Maintenance At present there are some systems to answer the need to lessen maintenance error, both from a safety and a financial viewpoint and the following systems have been developed, adapted, or improved to tackle maintenance error. Evaluation of each system is carried out by reviewing the relevant literatures to better know how these systems are used today. There is no hierarchy entailed by the order in which these methods are presented. a. Maintenance Round Table - US Airways This is a maintenance error analytical approach planned and used by the US Airways maintenance organization. It is a combined effort between the FAA, the air carrier, and the labour unions. When a technician is implicated in maintenance error, he is brought before the Round Table Committee, to further reveal his participation in the incident. The air carrier company guarantees the employ that no further disciplinary action will be taken against him; though, the FAA preserves rights to take supplementary action it considers essential. With this system, the air carrier receives opinions to develop the system to stop potential re-occurrence of similar errors. Approximately 20 round table inquiries have been completed at US Airways. b. Maintenance Error Decision Aid (MEDA) - Boeing The Maintenance Error Decision Aid (MEDA) is a maintenance error analytical device developed by Boeing in collaboration with nine domestic and foreign air carriers, the FAA, and the International Association of Machinists. The main aim was to re-define what composes adequate human error explorations, for maintenance. MEDA is made up of an analytical process, reporting form, and exploratory training. Design and testing of the device was accomplished in 1995 and as of this date 67 air carriers are using or have been qualified by Boeing to use the tool. c. Tools for Error Analysis in Maintenance (TEAM) – Galaxy Scientific This is a software package built by Galaxy Scientific as an add-on to Boeing’s MEDA device. Galaxy Scientific was suppliers for Boeing’s MEDA development program, and consequently the TEAM software go on to represent the latest in MEDA development. This software permits an air carrier to carry out analysis on data composed via MEDA and offers a data-entry display for straight analysis input using the TEAM software. d. British Airways Safety Information System (BASIS) This is a safety information system developed by British Airways. Fifty-seven air carriers around the globe use the system to input, analyze, and supervise flight crew-related errors and inconsistencies. Since British Airways was one of the original MEDA development team associates and at present a user of MEDA. British Airways is at present expanding BASIS to comprise MEI as its for-purchase maintenance error analysis module. e. Managing Engineering Safety Health (MESH) - University of Manchester This is a program developed by the University of Manchester and initially used in aviation by the British Airways Engineering department. It varies from the other programs assessed in that it is not event-driven, it depends upon global reviews of the features that may incite error or make incompetence in the organization. It is assessed here along with distinct error investigation systems since it has been used in one international carrier as a system for recognizing contributor to maintenance error. f. Aurora Mishap Management System (AMMS) - Aurora Safety and Information Systems, Inc. The Aurora Mishap Management System (AMMS) is a commercial human error management system intended for use in the transportation industries. This was made by ex-MEDA and ex-U.S. Air Force Mishap Prevention Program designers. AMMS offers a collection of investigation, analysis, and prevention tactic methodologies through its PC-based platform. AMMS is the most complicated of the systems appraised in that it needs considerable training and computer expertise to efficiently use the system’s features. g. Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) - FAA/NASA The Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) is an FAA self-report program, started in May 1975, governed by NASA, with the support of Battelle Memorial Institute. The aims of the system are to make out shortages and inconsistencies in the National Aviation System, and to supply data for planning and development to the National Aviation System. Mostly pilots use this system, under prearranged situation, protection from FAA certificate action for an airman’s reporting of his involvement in a FAR infringement. Now the system has been officially extended to comprise a maintenance reporting form. The system is intended to permit ad-hoc user investigations and to supply the aviation industry with alert bulletins and study reports prepared by the NASA/Battelle team. h. Air Carrier Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program – FAA (AC-120-56) The Voluntary Disclosure Program which started in 1992 offers the chance for an organization, as compared to a single person, to disclose FAR violations to the FAA in exchange for some level of enforcement protection. The Voluntary Disclosure Program does not comprise a government-funded database, nor does it give access to the aviation society. Furthermore, Voluntary Disclosure needs a complete remedial action on the part of the air carrier. The program may be explained as an event-centred, one-on-one rapport between the violator (air carrier) and the enforcement organization (the FAA). The objective is to change the hide-and-seek attitude of infringements with a more supportive strategy. i. Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) - FAA (AC-120-66) This Program, earlier addressed as Partnership Program, is the FAA’s most recent approach into a less-punitive, more supportive association with airlines and main repair stations. Partnership programs have long association in flight operations display programs carried out over the previous years, together with the US Airways Altitude Bust Program and the American Airlines ASAP Program. Similar to the US Airways Round Table, Partnership programs are depended on group analysis of failure events. By such group analysis, the carrier, labour union, and FAA can take suitable and positive remedial action. Similar to Voluntary Disclosure, there is no supplementary database, however, unlike Voluntary Disclosures; ASAP programs are planned to take a more process-oriented approach. j. The Internal Airline Mechanical Reliability Program - (AC-120-17A) This program is examined in this report since its processes for event investigation, analysis, and remedial action directly similar to those of human error investigation and there is a great deal to accomplish by monitoring the success of these programs. Further, airlines currently carry out a substantial number of maintenance error surveys. An incident as crucial as an in-flight breakdown of an engine, if it is due to maintenance error, will usually go together with an examination and a thorough analysis of how to stop such an error in the future. This report evaluates the typical air carrier’s strategy to the administration of on-aircraft apparatus breakdowns, whether due to the equipment itself or because of human error. This function arises, for a Part 121 carrier, in the course of an air carrier’s response to FAR 121.373, its incessant airworthiness maintenance program, and its mechanical dependability efforts (Marx, 1998). Impact of Fatigue on Human Performance Dr. Wayne Rhodes carried out study for the benefit Transport Canada looked at the impact of fatigue on human performance through an analysis of several variables, comprising: shift duration, shift times, number of successive days worked, geographic location and nature of work. The study also well thought-out personal variables for instance family status, number of jobs held and age and sex of the participants. There has been a great deal discussion in Canada concerning levels of fatigue in the aircraft maintenance industry. The AME duty time review gave proof to suggest that fatigue and too much time of work may be there in the workforce. Transport Canada suggests that fatigue risk management systems encompassing three levels of action be accepted. They are: The development of strategy reports for organization and employees; Training and learning programs for all employees; and Audit systems for deciding fatigue levels within an organization. Transport Canada understands of the broad necessities of a fatigue risk management program and is presented as the foundation for the development of notices of proposed amendment to the Canadian Aviation Regulations needing organizations to execute these systems. Transport Canada consider that the execution of fatigue risk management programs in the aviation maintenance background presents a flexible and company specific planning to manage workplace fatigue (tc.gc.ca, 2003). Need for change in maintenance strategy Since technology in manufacturing is growing at a fast rate and this reality is totally factual in aircraft maintenance also. Obviously, global industry is entering an electronic age causing to a greater extent methods, operations and results are managed by computers and superior technology systems. At present, in aircraft maintenance and inspection, a good deal of automation is in place. Information management is the area that has got the most improvement from applications of automation. Various developments and reporting are presently managed electronically. More and more activities for instance tool and inventory control, computer-aided design of tools and monitoring of service bulletins and airworthiness information are as well done with computers, at the maintenance shops of the main air carriers. The majority of aircraft industries are having or developing electronic versions of the maintenance manuals. In such case, a technician can look for the needed information with a computer system. The memory is incorporated in some of these systems so that the information will automatically show the relevant parts of the maintenance manual that may be desired by the technician for a specific maintenance task. Further superior versions of these systems permit the technician to use a pointing tool to get the preferred information items on a monitor screen and then get access to the maintenance manual information. One of the remarkable examples is the Integrated Maintenance Information System or IMIS. This system represents a good deal of computer based technology that assists technicians to detect aircraft and systems break down and carry out necessary maintenance. The system is extremely moveable and can be carried to the faulty aircraft like any other tool a technician may need. IMIS has a liquid crystal display (LCD) and can present enlarged views, parts lists, technical details necessary to repair a system, sequenced test and maintenance procedures and a lot of other data’s that, primarily, resides in printed information for instance, maintenance handbooks and parts catalogue. The system can even be powered into a particular maintenance bus on the airplane and automatically get information on the condition of aircraft systems. In addition this can be used to supply the technician with system appraisals and necessary corrective actions. IMIS is an excellent example of a job aid that can supply solid support to maintenance technicians. It saves a lot of time that would usually be spent travelling between the aircraft and information sources such as technical libraries. This time can be productively spent on the job the technician is best set to carry out: maintaining the aircraft. Modern technology computers have turn out to be more advanced and some incorporate features such as handwriting recognition. This potential could be predominantly useful in filling out the several reports and forms that are necessary in aircraft maintenance. It is estimated that technicians spend 25% of their time on paperwork, time that could be effectively spent on airplane maintenance. Computerizing the filing process to the level possible and further automating the information filing activity into larger computer storage services, recording errors can be prevented, and huge reserves in clerical manpower can be achieved. Money that is presently used up on these supplementary maintenance services could be spent on activities that would have some direct safety pay-offs for example providing further training. Moreover, aircraft maintenance technicians would have more time to carry out their works, leading to a less rushed, and therefore less error-prone, work atmosphere. Such automation technology required to carry out these kinds of activities survive at present and is being evaluated. There is no doubt that this type of job-aiding automation, which is either overly multifaceted or costly, will reach its way into the aircraft maintenance service eventually. The guidance, knowledge and technological expertise required presently to carry out the works of an aircraft maintenance technician are more than sufficient to effectively use these computerized job aids. Therefore it is sensible to anticipate this type of automation in aircraft maintenance to be realized internationally. One thing to be remembered is that when introducing sophisticated automation in aircraft maintenance, unless intended with the ability and restrictions of the human operators can be a source of a diverse set of troubles hampering rather than supporting the aircraft maintenance technician. Certainly, such automation cannot provide the wellbeing of safety or effectiveness in aircraft maintenance. Because of this reason, it is proper to be aware that automation strategy designed and made to support a human operator in harmony with the values of human-centred automation.1 This deliberation will help make certain that sophisticated automated aids will serve the intention they are planned for, without making an awesome set of fresh and extra problems for the maintenance organization. New automated job aids are equipped on latest transport aircraft. These systems have the potential to evaluate the status of on-board apparatus such as engines and electronic systems. If one the equipments go wrong on these new aircraft during flight, the trouble is automatically stored and sent to the aircraft maintenance base station without the knowledge of the flight crews. Even before landing, aircraft maintenance technicians are ready and be standing by with necessary spare parts to rapidly solve the crisis and get the aircraft back into service. Clearly, not all apparatus or system on the aircraft can be assessed this way, however a great deal of fault finding or examination time can be saved when major systems break down on aircraft that has such built-in test equipment (BITE). The foremost safety pay-off of such a system is that maintenance troubles are identified and solved at the early development phase, consequently answering of maintenance problems through trial and error to the history books. The great advantage of BITE is that aircraft system break down is known at a very early phase prior it turn into a threat to the safety of the airplane and its occupants. Next benefit is that flight crew members may be consulted on a developing maintenance problem, therefore enhancing their decision-making competences to make sure the sustained safe operation of the aircraft based on real and timely facts. The maintenance technician’s mission is multifaceted and diverse and is carried out at a number of diverse physical locations. Genuine maintenance activity engages recurrent access to restricted spaces and a broad range of handling of tools, test equipment and other procedure. It would be extremely complex, to computerize a large amount of the work of the airplane maintenance technician. To a certain extent, the majority of automation linked to maintenance tasks will possibly comprise of enhancements in analytical support systems. There are other thoughts under progress at this time for example automated devices that will pass through an aircraft's outer structure and inspect it for cracks, corrosion, spoiled rivets and other defects, extensively supporting the work of an inspector. Further thoughts under learning include automation of human expertise. A good number of the airline maintenance employees in the United States are soon getting aged to retire. This group has an incredible knowledge on aircraft maintenance and inspection techniques that will be missing when these persons retire from the active service. Somehow if this skill can be captured, and given to the junior, then airplane safety, from the maintenance experience point of view, will be preserved and improved and huge savings in cost and time can be realized. A few airlines are currently working on this idea (Civil Aviation Authority, 2002). Aircraft life-cycle management All aviation organizations struggle to reduce maintenance expenditures and optimize the operational readiness of airplane, at the same time making sure the safety of passengers, flight crews and freight. The major uncertain obstruction to attaining these goals is the trust on the obsolete information systems that cannot resourcefully offer the real-time information that today’s conformity monitoring and administration require. A restricted skill to administer and track Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) linked data, and to precisely symbolize the configurations of aircraft and parts over time, means that resources are frequently over-maintained and asset life cycles reduced to make sure that safety is not compromised. As a basis for computerizing these and other aircraft life-cycle managing roles in multifaceted and strongly regulated ready settings, three credentials are vital. a. Configuration management b. Component life accounting c. Operational status management These are the building blocks that form the hub of an overall asset management explanation, and they describe the level of usability, flexibility and functionality it can suggest. Configuration management Configuration management merges past MRO data’s with an asset’s new invented configuration to supply a complete view of an asset’s record. Configuration management can as well assist to verify that actual aircraft or part physical assemblies conform to permissible configuration regulations and alert workers when do not. A strong configuration management response is the most significant constituent of the aircraft life-cycle managing method. Efficient configuration management make possible organizations to plan maintenance more precisely and help to make sure asset availability, endorse regulatory conformity and exploit the value of an asset all through its life cycle. The more composite and active a fleet is, the more significant efficient configuration supervision turns out to be. Hence it is vital that configuration management support the incorporation of technical records and their impact on what is a valid physical build for an individual asset and its modification status. Similarly, configuration management must maintain the idea of assets being in several valid configurations at the same time. Component life accounting Aircraft life-cycle management approach trust straight on a competent fundamental maintenance plan. Consecutively, the maintenance plan trusts on the precise accounting of component life. A component life accounting method should be capable to obtain physical build and component life statistics in real time from transactional logs, automate inconsistency detection and decision, maintain boundless previous alteration to install/remove and handling reports, and supply a precise analysis of past, at-the-time, as-built and part life records. Airplane operational status management An airplane ready status management scheme works by contrasting a real aircraft build to its projected configuration and then assessing the present condition of the aircraft’s maintenance plan to decide an overall operational condition. The result of this multifaceted appraisal process can be used to make a status board or additional reporting attentive device, offering a precise, advanced view of overall fleet operational standing. The more successful organizations can supervise fleet operational standing, the better placed they are to productively administer and examine their regulatory conformity efforts to make the most of their maintenance plan, expected superior aircraft performance and abridged expenditure. Payback of successful airplane life-cycle management An institutions skill to manage aircraft and component configurations capably during every asset’s life cycle make possible an extensive range of payback. These comprise: better managing and scrutinizing of regulatory conformity efforts, as well as enhanced preparedness for external and internal audits and evaluations of maintenance strategies, configuration alteration of the past and maintenance of records; support for an optimized maintenance plan which agree to an organization to more precisely review, manage and check components vital to aircraft safety and serving to extend component life and lessen the inclination to over-maintain components; abridged record managing expenses and complications in contrast to paper-based or ineffective, semi-automated methods; superior supply chain sourcing, because of enhanced facility to confirm and manage substitution of parts. Reduced inventory, through an improved ability to predict the need for replacement parts, combined with a better ability to identify which parts are obsolete for the current fleet. Conclusion This research paper investigated historic and current trends in aircraft maintenance. Further it looks in to specific need for change of strategy in aircraft maintenance organizations. Specifically, how to minimize maintenance error in comparisons to the old system with the fully automated maintenance management were also discussed. This study recommends that the change essential since the benefits are innumerable, such as safety of airlines improved by reducing the human factor error in maintenance, time and cost factor improved, and so on. Air France Industries launched its component and equipment maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in Villeneuve-le-Roi, near Paris Orly Airport, in January 2005. This facility is the company's forefront in an approach to address ever more complex market conditions. The entire $96 million building was intended to speed up component repair cycles. Bruno Delile, director for hardware and services, offered Aviation Maintenance a clarification for Air France Industry’s inspiration for building the new facility. He said that Aircrafts are ever more dependable, and new technologies make repairing apparatus more expensive, consequently one had to choose among leaving the market or repairing more airplanes to bring unit expenditure low. Hence the spotlight is on acceleration of procedures and reducing turnaround times. Targets are set to decrease 50 percent in turnaround time and 15 percent in production expenditure, project manager Patrick Gauchey explained. Air France Industries managers carried out a methodical evaluation of existing services in the Paris. The likelihood would have been to renovate them, but the requirement for a completely diverse organization made the company drop this choice. The new facility, therefore, change workshops that used to be spread around Orly but as well features new repair potential. It has been intended to progress communications among the teams that have to labor jointly, plus making procedures safer for the employees and friendlier to the atmosphere (Dubois, 2005). Conventional strategy in managing MRO statistics has in general been ineffective at automating configuration administration, component life accounting and operational condition managing for aviation material goods. This has caused an increased compliance menace, mislaid production because of recurrent manual intrusion, and a failure to optimize asset maintenance and exploit asset life. In order to make more efficient operations and improve efforts to lessen compliance and safety hazards, aviation organizations profit from a fully automated solution that offers precise, real-time configuration statistics on command. For this purpose system involve a highly developed approach that monitors MRO dealings dynamically, like a contemporary fiscal application, although sustaining asset configurations by means of a rules-based, before a template-based technique. There are companies that provide a total aircraft life-cycle management solution that dynamically tracks asset life-cycle activities and automatically produce existing and point-in-time configurations, empowering aviation managers to optimize maintenance activities, improve compliance procedures and lessen working expenses (IBM, 2007). References AEROSPACE, (1993) TechLog — Is There a Maintenance Problem. CAP 718 Human Factors in Aircraft Maintenance and Inspection Civil Aviation Authority (2002) Human Factors in Aircraft Maintenance and Inspection CAP 718, Safety Regulation Group. [Online] Available from [Accessed on 5 March 2009]. Dubois, T. (2005) Air France Industries: Crafting a New Component Strategy, Access Intelligence, LLC. 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