Page 42 - AAA SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2018 Online Magazine

Please update on MTU benefit of reducing the amount of production engines. One third of all
and MRO for the P&W GTF time mechanics spent switching propulsion systems of this type will
– worldwide and Asia in between documents and enabling be assembled at MTU in Munich.
particular? them to focus on inspecting the
part in question. Secondly, the real The GTF engine will be maintained
Through its risk and revenue shar- and virtual world of maintenance by a network of the industry’s top
ing partnership, MTU has an 18 will merge – data will be transferred MRO companies providing the high-
percent stake in the PW1100G-JM to tablets or smart glasses so that est quality maintenance support.
programme. Its share in the after- the mechanic has a complete over- This network includes P&W and
market network corresponds to this view at all times. its engine program partners, MTU,
figure and is currently carried out JAEC, and LHT. GTF engine mainte-
by MTU Maintenance in Hannover, What are the key technol- nance initial shops will be located in
with capabilities having been intro- ogies and best practises, North America (P&W CEC), Europe
duced in 2016. Initial visits have that MTU has access to (MTU: Hannover and MTU & LHT:
been invaluable in improving repair for GTF MRO? JV EME AERO) and Asia (JAEC).
processes in collaboration with the MTU contributes the high-speed As the volume of engine overhauls
OEM. They also build on the range low-pressure turbine to the GTF, grows, the network will expand
of engineering and in-depth exper- one of its key components, where to include airline and other MRO
tise within MTU Aero Engines as a we are the sole manufacturer in the shops.
next-generation engine manufac- world capable of offering this tech-
turer. nology. Moreover, Pratt & Whitney How does MTU intend to
and MTU have collaborated to start/grow its MRO offer-
Furthermore, Lufthansa Technik design a new high-pressure com- ings for the CFM LEAP as
and MTU Aero Engines are set- pressor. MTU is responsible for a non-OEM partner?
ting up a joint venture named EME the forward four stages and Pratt
Aero (Engine Maintenance Europe) & Whitney for stages five to eight. Any decisions to enter into new
for the maintenance, repair and The innovative compressor is a engine programmes are made on
overhaul (MRO) of geared turbo- 100-percent blisk construction. the basis of market demand and
fan (GTF) engines, with each of Blisks (Blade Integrated Disks) are license access. MTU Maintenance
the partners holding a 50-percent high-tech components where the Zhuhai believes it is well positioned
stake. According to current plans, disk and blades are produced as to work on next generation engines
the facility in Jasionka, Poland, will a single piece. This design offers – both through parent company
be operational in 2020 and have clear advantages: greater tensile MTU Aero Engine’s RRSP agree-
an annual capacity of over 400 strength, lower weight, greater ments with OEMs and through its
shops visits. It will service the new geometrical accuracy on the blade joint venture with China Southern.
PW1000G-series geared turbofan to enhance the aerodynamic char- China Southern is China’s largest
engines as part of the OEM net- acteristics, no blade roots or disk airline group and was the first airline
work. slots to suffer wear and tear, and in China to start A320neo services
no assembly costs. This offers as in 2017. It also began operating
To what extent has well clear advantages for the MRO: the 737 Max in fall last year. We
MTU introduced AR/VR the knowledge of an OEM plus the count on them for base workload.
technology for its MRO design advantages to lower MRO Furthermore, through its risk and
activities? costs. MTU’s total program work- revenue sharing partnership, MTU
share in the GTF is up to 18 percent. has an 18 percent stake in the
We are starting to test augmented PW1100G-JM programme.
reality at the MTU Maintenance For the first time ever, MTU used
facility in Berlin-Brandenburg. its new, additive manufacturing
The project goes by the name method, selective laser melting,
“Inspection 4.0” and aims to for this engine. The high-speed
improve knowledge management low-pressure turbine for the
in the shop. Inspection 4.0 has PW1100G-JM is the first one pro-
two main goals. The first is to cen- duced that comes with 3D-printed
tralize all data regarding a specific borescope bosses. MTU’s work
part into one system. This has the share also includes the assembly of

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