Matching Processes and Data for Improvement of Operational Performance in Aviation MRO

Kurzfassung

The performance of aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) tasks is characterized by a high share of manual work. Additionally, airlines and MRO organizations have to keep record of every maintenance task and transaction between companies. In order to stay competitive in the aviation MRO market, organizations are required to improve their operational performance and utilize their resources in a time- and cost-efficient way. To achieve the targeted efficiency, organizations run dedicated improvement projects. These improvement projects range from identifying, documenting and fine-tuning existing processes to a radical business process reengineering. The projects are often part of company-internal digitalization initiatives. When evaluating processes, it is essential to consider the whole organization and the connection between adjacent operations. Otherwise, an individual process might run optimal but up- and downstream tasks are executed in an inefficient way. In this context, digitalization opportunities, which enable vertical and horizontal integration of operations, need to be taken into account. They offer means to link manual tasks with documentation and data to use this information. In order to support aviation MRO organizations in improving their operations and implementing digital solutions, a dedicated methodology is developed and presented in the paper. Central element of the methodology is a defined architecture of MRO service related tasks and process data combinations, which is based on an ontological data model. The task-data combinations are developed based on information collected in a mutual research project with an industry partner. The application of a visual assistance system for manual scarf repairs of aircraft composite components serves as case study for this project. The application of the methodology enables an MRO organization – after mapping their processes and grouping tasks according to the introduced scheme – to match their operational tasks with the presented ontological data structure. The subsequent re-design of operational processes and data flows facilitates the utilization of collected information, the integration of operations and the achievement of an integrated optimum of the operational performance. The research approach and the application of the methodology are illustrated in FIGURE 1. The presented methodology contributes to research in process improvement, process reengineering and data-driven improvement of aviation MRO. The contribution lies in the integrated consideration of processes and data, the holistic approach – compared to optimization of particular aspects of MRO operations – and taking into account the characteristics of aviation MRO industry.