Page 41 - AAA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2017 Online Magazine

SPECIAL FEATURE

Data Analytics services will play
a greater role in effective engine
fleet management and further
improve the gap between costly
shop visits for aero engines

interact with each other, based on technical is improving rapidly, thanks to Big Data rapid access to maintenance documents
orders, drawings, flat files, and other source analytics, while smarter equipment is able to and troubleshooting steps prioritised by
documents. During the loading of source provide operators with real-time condition likelihood of success. Meanwhile, Boeing’s
documents, the AVCOM predictive tool information. By reducing time-consuming Airplane Health Management (AHM) is used
identifies discrepancies and routes them routine maintenance, for example, experts on 2000 aircraft for 53 customers. Experts
back to the managing authority for official estimate that Airbus’s and Boeing’s predictive estimate such approaches can increase
corrections. Identifying and correcting maintenance systems in the aviation space aircraft availability by up to 35 per cent.
source documentation helps ensure a correct could increase fleet availability by up to 35 However, unlocking the secrets of big data in
configuration in parts databases. “Once per cent. commercial aviation is still to be tackled. “In
users load electronic and non-electronic commercial aviation, there’s huge potential
component types into the system, experts How Successful Can it Be? for using data to enable everything from
can evaluate aircraft and other weapon Predictive maintenance, no matter how predictive analytics to greater inventory
systems for current part status and analysis. sophisticated, won’t identify every potential optimisation and better monitoring of health
Users can generate forecasting reports such failure. Parts will still break, and additional of equipment in real-time. But so far there
as component health projections, create repairs will be discovered in the course of has been little in the way of answers for its
current system and assembly health analysis, scheduled maintenance and inspection, key uses, or more importantly, the means of
or project the health analysis 20 years and repairs will be required. But IoT data, identifying which data is useful, and which
out to evaluate future obsolescence. “The combined with an MRO’s own repair and is not. By providing key data around asset
system receives and processes automated maintenance records, will provide additional failures, this can then be integrated into
product change, product discontinuation, information the MRO’s team can use to logistics systems to help inform and improve
and counterfeit notification alerts directly fine-tune the deployment of material and future designs, in order to optimise usage
from the parts manufacturers, as well as resources for maximum effect. The value and lower the total life cycle cost,” comments
from Government Industry Data Exchange of predictive maintenance is already well Zilvinas Sadauskas, the CEO of Locatory.
Program (GIDEP) notices to inform users of recognised by the biggest players in the com, an aviation IT company primarily acting
upcoming obsolescence issues,” he informs. industry. For instance, Airbus’s Aircraft as an aircraft parts locator.
Maintenance Analysis (Airman), used Going by a survey by Curtiss-Wright,
Benefits of Planning Ahead by 106 customers, constantly monitors multiple operators expect to save US$5000
Oliver Wyman says timing maintenance health and transmits faults or warning per aircraft per year with a mature predictive
procedures to match maintenance needs messages to ground control, providing maintenance programme in place.
WWW.GBP.COM.SG/AAA JANUARY / MARCH 2017 MAINTENANCE REPAIR OVERHAUL 41