Ramco Systems launched its new enterprise resource planning offering for aviation, aerospace and defense customers, Series 5 Manufacturing, in April. The manufacturing suite is designed to provide a single solution for engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, sales, service management, plant maintenance, human resources and financial operations.
Pratt & Whitney formally launched its PureSolution service program for the PurePower engine family. (For more information, see O&M, April 2011, pg. 66.)
Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance & Engineering (Gameco) added Norbert Marx as general manager. Marx joins Gameco from Heli-One Inc. in Vancouver, and he formerly held leadership roles at Jet Aviation, Lufthansa Technik and Ameco Beijing. Gameco also named Wu RongXin deputy general manager. Wu joined Gameco in 2008, and has served as CFO for the last three years.
Tell me about Air Works' transformation that began in 2006. Menon: We commenced the process to invite private equity, diluting our holdings to raise the capital required to fund our plans for the future. Global Technology Investment Group in New York acquired a 33% stake in Air Works, and then we got a second investor called Punj Lloyd Group, which is one of the largest infrastructure groups in the country with business interests spread across the Middle East, Europe and the Far East. We each hold a 33.3% share.
Chromalloy gained a new VP and general manager: Dennis Orzel, who most recently was COO of PAS Technologies. Orzel formerly has held leadership positions at Triumph and Pratt & Whitney.
GE Aviation expanded its TRUEngine program to cover the CF6 and awarded the first CF6 TRUEngine designation to Nippon Cargo Airlines' fleet of 43 CF6-80C2 engines that power its Boeing 747 fleet. GE debuted the TRUEngine concept for the CFM56 engine three years ago. Now more than 6,000 engines operated by 62 customers—or 30% of the CFM56 engines in commercial service, GE says—have qualified for the designation.
At one point or another, we all find ourselves looking around the house for misplaced car keys or a business card with an important phone number on it. Usually, these things turn up, and the consequence of carelessness is no more than wasted time. But in a maintenance hangar, forgotten tools can transform into foreign object debris (FOD) that can cause serious damage if left behind in an aircraft.
Packaging Systems International specializes in the distribution of chemicals, sealants, adhesives and coatings. It packages epoxy, urethane, polysulfide and silicone chemistry materials to customers' specific quantity requirements. Packaging Systems International has the capability to package materials in barrier and injection kits, dual-cartridge kits and Bipacks (bags of two blendable sealant materials separated by a removable clip before use).
United Airlines promoted Michael Lorenzini to managing director of United Technical Operations, maintenance control. He also serves as director of maintenance. Airframes
Simplified Safety distributes Gorbel's Tether Track fall protection anchorage system, which uses an overhead, shock-absorbing lanyard or self-retracting lifeline to keep workers safe while they carry out maintenance on top of aircraft fuselages. Simplified Safety also sells personal protective equipment and hazard-containment products for multiple industrial work environments. www.simplifiedsafety.com/store/fall-protection.html
Sargent Aerospace & Defense's aftermarket services group acquired more than 1,200 Boeing 737 line-replaceable units worth approximately $4 million in mid-March. Sargent's Miami facility was expected to receive the majority of these components—which range from avionics, fuel pumps, electromechanical actuators and engine components to landing gear top assembly units—in overhauled condition, ready for outright sale and exchange and lease programs.
Modern aircraft are generating much more data that can reduce maintenance costs by reducing downtime and improving repair efficiency. However, “there is more talking going on than listening,” stresses Peter Feldmann, VP of the Cavok division of Oliver Wyman. Translation: aircraft and everything on them talk, but systems are not fully exploiting the data because sometimes they are not even connected, and sometimes they speak in different languages.
In June 2009, the Air Transport Association published its Spec 2000 Chapter 9 data standard for the permanent identification of parts, the identification of receiving/shipping information and traceability. Contrary to popular belief, Spec 2000 Chapter 9 is strictly a “data standard”—not a technology standard. Fourteen required fields of information have been defined, including a small section providing an option to record additional information.
Complacency has been called “the silent killer” and “the greatest threat to the survival of organizations today.” It seeps quietly into maintenance hangars over time as technicians become more comfortable in their jobs and begin taking shortcuts, such as not using checklists or using an out-of-date tool rather than making the trek to get a serviceable replacement. And complacency spreads: other technicians witness these shortcuts and figure they can get away with them, too.
SR Technics inducted the 15th easyJet aircraft into its new, two-bay facility in Malta. The Airbus A319 came in for a 14-day IL check. SR Technics provides line, light and base maintenance, maintenance operations control, engineering and technical services, component repair and logistics management for easyJet's Airbus fleet under a $1.6 billion contract inked in November 2009 that extended work for the low-cost carrier through 2020 and made it launch customer for the Malta facility.
The lines separating major carriers from regional carriers continue to blur, and that's having an impact on the way the latter look at maintenance. Consider that larger regional jet aircraft such as the Embraer 170 and 190 family and Bombardier's forthcoming CSeries are—or soon will be—ranging farther afield. These types supplant major carriers' mainline jets on routes that were once a sole province.
Parker Hannifin has just started offering barcode and optional radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies to keep track of its hydraulic assemblies through the supply chain, as well as a new, on-site container service for emergency hose repairs. The hydraulic components manufacturer is adding these options to its network of 330 ParkerStore distributors near major North American airports.
The Persimmon Group appointed Ray H. (Tray) Siegfried director, aerospace services. Siegfried joins the Oklahoma-based business management consulting firm from The Nordam Group, the Siegfried family business, which he most recently served as vice chairman of the board.
Boeing added Ethiopian Airlines as the 13th customer for its 777 Component Services Program, a parts-provisioning service offered by Boeing and Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance designed to reduce airlines' upfront investment in inventory. For Ethiopian Airlines, the program initially will support three Boeing 777-200LR aircraft delivered since November 2010; the airline expects to receive two more aircraft of the type this year, one in late April and another sometime in the third quarter.
One of the most important safety concerns in the hangar is the risk of falls, especially when technicians traverse the top of an aircraft to perform maintenance duties.
Solo Aviation in Ocumare del Tuy, Venezuela, became a GE Aviation authorized service center for M601 and H80 turboprop engines. Solo Aviation now offers line maintenance, removals and re-installations of engines and LRUs and engine spares for the M601 and H80 engine families; GE Aviation will provide Solo Aviation with comprehensive material support and training.
Sifco Applied Surface Concepts in Cleveland completed its fifth consecutive Nadcap aerospace chemical processing audit, which recognizes conformity for chemical processing.
For life-limited consumables, more airlines and MROs are looking at small kit packaging as one approach to inventory control that saves money and reduces waste, says Randy Wilt, director of corporate marketing for Graco Supply and Integrated Services.
