Editor’s Notebook

The promise of software integration is finally coming true.

The Great Integration

A prediction is finally coming to pass; the creation, delivery, and dissemination of maintenance data is joining the modern age.

Computers have long promised to help us manage the maintenance process, and it's true that few maintenance operations today do their business without computers. But most use of computers in maintenance has been fairly basic and nowhere near what modern automation systems can deliver. In many operations, paper has yet to disappear completely.

For those of you joining us at Aviation Maintenance's inaugural STAR (Software Technology and Resource) Symposium November 7-9 in Phoenix, Arizona, you'll be seeing products that can actually deliver the wonders of automation for everything from aircraft manufacturing (creation and delivery of maintenance documentation) to airlines, corporate flight departments, and charter operators (maintenance tracking and electronic logbooks) to commercial maintenance service companies (electronic regulatory data and maintenance manuals, trend monitoring, and supply chain management).

The STAR Symposium (www.STARSymposium.com) is an excellent way to learn about these products. For a preview, see AM's special Industry Focus software section beginning on page 18.

What is taking place is that software developers have figured out how to take electronic data that is created when an aircraft is designed and use that to develop all the information needed by the

maintenance operation. Companies like Arbortext, Enigma, Right Hemisphere, and Gradient eLearning are putting electronic information to efficient use, to help produce maintenance manuals and training content, complete with feedback loops for mechanics to report problems back to manufacturers.

Software from companies like Avexus, Continuum Applied Technologies, Honeywell, Miro, Mxi Technologies, and Ultramain is merging maintenance operations with the back-office. Previously this was offered only by large enterprise resource planning systems like those of SAP and Oracle.

The results of all these efforts are that aircraft operators and maintenance service companies are finally gaining some measure of control over maintenance costs. Efficiency is adding up to, if not added profits, lower losses. Best of all, the information that mechanics, managers, and business owners need is more readily available.

Already at some maintenance facilities, when a mechanic looks up a procedure in the maintenance manual or searches for a work card, there are links in the document to current information such as a manufacturer service bulletin or even notes from other mechanics about special techniques or problems discovered while performing that task.

Some systems are able to verify the qualifications of the mechanic, to ensure that he or she has received the necessary training or has the requisite experience before doing a new task.

To gain that experience, a company can either send a mechanic somewhere for training, offer an in-house training class, or provide on-the-job training. A new type of on-the-job training is available from educational software developer Gradient eLearning (see story page 30). Gradient's system can teach almost anyone how to assemble a component; training is done on a computer using a mouse and keyboard. The student can view the component from any angle to see where and how parts and wires are attached. And in Gradient's electronic maintenance manual, verbal coaching helps technicians with step-by-step instructions.

Aircraft Technical Publishers estimates that the amount of money wasted on lost time by technicians searching for appropriate information for maintenance tasks is $1 billion per year.

Developments in maintenance computing are accelerating, and we are all going to benefit from increasingly useful technology that is being created specifically for aircraft maintenance. These new products aren't magic; you can't buy new software and expect to install it and suddenly solve all your problems.

Before switching to or adopting new software, any company must examine its business processes and make sure that the company's procedures are ready for automation. Some software implementations require companies to make significant changes in processes, and this is one area that needs to be explored before selecting new software.

The great integration is coming. Are you ready?