2nd IATA Conference for RFID and Paperless Operation in ... · PDF filePaperless TechOps Phil Bathurst EVP Sales and Consultingl 2nd IATA Conference for RFID and Paperless Operation

providing intelligent maintenance solutionsProviding intelligent maintenance solutions for intelligent aircraft

Delta TechOps Journey Towards a Paperless TechOps

Phil Bathurst EVP Sales and Consultingl

2nd IATA Conference for RFID and Paperless Operation in Aircraft Technical Operations

providing intelligent maintenance solutions

EmpowerMX

• EmpowerMX is an Aviation Software and Services Company based in Frisco TX.

• EmpowerMX’s FleetCycle Software is the leading software for mobile based maintenance execution.

• Delta TechOps started using EmpowerMX in their airframe maintenance facilities in ATL and MSP in 2013.


Overview

• How is Delta moving from a maintenance system that relied heavily on paperwork to a paperless environment?– How did it start?

– What was the vision?

– What was the plan to accomplish the vision?

– Where are they now?

– Lessons learned


The Start

• In 2013 Delta TechOps sent out a RFP for a Maintenance Planning and Execution Software for their base maintenance and airframe MRO facilities in ATL and MSP.

• The EmpowerMX FleetCycle MRO Manager Module was selected for a Proof of Concept which began in the 4th quarter of 2013.

• During the POC, Delta TechOps documented over a 20% efficiency improvement and over a 10% reduction in audit findings.


The Start

• With the improvements noted during the POC, Delta TechOps moved forward with the EmpowerMX FleetCycle software for their airframe maintenance and MRO facilities.

• Delta received approval from the FAA for the use of electronic non-routines with electronic signatures.


The Start

• During 2014, Delta TechOps was using electronic non-routines while still using paper routines with electronic cover sheets.

• Tablets were being used by some of the maintenance techs for the generation and evaluation of non-routines.


The Start

• During this time several integrations to legacy software systems were also completed to support efficiency gains and ease work flow.

– Labor hours to accounting system

– Work packages from the maintenance planning/system of record

– Single Sign-on


The Vision/Next Steps

• Late in 2014, Delta TechOps started a project called “Enabling Electronic Documents” (EED).

• The goal behind this project was to take Delta TechOps into a paperless environment in

– Base Maintenance

– Line Maintenance

– Component Maintenance



• Expected benefits of the EED project

– Efficiency gains in all areas of maintenance due to techs being able to stay on task

– Reduction of paperwork errors

– Real-time visibility of projects

– Techs from line, base, and components working within same system with like formats for routines and non-routines

– Ability to quickly move planned work from one location to another



• EmpowerMX was selected to partner with Delta TechOps on this project due to:

– The ability to demonstrate an electronic routine task card that already existed

– The FleetCycle software was already successfully being used in base maintenance in both ATL and MSP

– A history of integrating with legacy systems, not only at DAL but also at several other large airlines


The Plan

• Ultimately, the plan was to give the techs at Delta TechOps a tool which would enable them to stay on the aircraft and complete all of their tasks from a tablet device

• For planning purposes there was a target set of early 2016 to have base and line maintenance in a position to be using tablets for their maintenance events


The Plan

• There was a team set up which consisted of:

– Delta IT

– Delta TechOps Base Maintenance

– Delta TechOps Line Maintenance

• Domestic

• International

– EmpowerMX

• Developers

• Maintenance Business Operations


The Plan

• Since the EED Project included not only converting all work packages to digital format but also integrating with legacy software that enabled a tech to access everything he needs from one location, there was a great deal of planning required.

• Initial steps were to put together “as is” process maps and “future state” process maps.


The Plan

• Once the process was understood and the business bought into the future state map a Statement of Work was generated to ensure all groups were on the same page.

• The SOW not only gave detailed information on the electronic task cards but also all the integration information including:

– Direction

– Timing


The Plan

Requirement Delta Cross Reference Complexity Risk Comments

Electronic Task Card Changes

ETC Work Orders will be

differentiated by an indicator

from the regular Cards

(FleetCycle® change)HLNFR-BM-01 low low FleetCycle® core requirement

FleetCycle® will listen to

webservice from AMDS on the

availability of the Full Electronic

Task Card (New webservice)HLNFR-BM-02 medium high Risk - WSDL and XSD not defined yet

On receiving the notification

FleetCycle® will look into a

predetermined folder on the

server for the Full Electronic

Task Card in XML format. Multi-

threaded solution to read

multiple Cards simultaneously.

This includes configuring the

number of threads based on the

Electronic Task Card load

computed. HLNFR-BM-03 high medium

Complex - build good error handling in case of failure from the folder

structure. Includes algorithm on the available heap space so as to check if

additional threads can be fired to load Electronic Task Cards.

FleetCycle® will read and load

the full Electronic Task Card and

modifies the Electronic Task

Card to open state (XSL layer) on

successful load. HLNFR-BM-03 high high

Risk-Delta's Electronic Task Card XSD is still not available. Complex - 8

different types of routine Cards with embedded tables, entry fields, notes,

warnings and layout, need to be able to understand the Delta XML

directives and translate into FleetCycle® XML format. Complete mapping

of schema and display of the Card happens here.

Project Details


The Plan


Status

• The software system has been delivered to Delta and is in currently undergoing integration and user testing.

• Scheduled to go-live in base maintenance in the first quarter of 2016.

• Line maintenance scheduled roll is dependent on user testing and roll out plan


Status

• With the project completed a tech using a tablet will be able to:

– Receive his work assignments

– Complete an electronic routine or non-routine

– Access manuals

– Order parts and tooling

– Request a support group (QC, Engineering, Planning)

– Close a work package and release an aircraft


Electronic Routine


Electronic Non-Routine


Lessons Learned

• It’s all about all the teams working together

• Understand current processes

• Agree on a goal

• Detailed SOW

• Business buy-in and user testing