Ramco’s Aviation Solution

Ramco Personalizes MRO Software with VirtualWorks

The tasks confronting aviation owner/operators, aircraft maintainers, and third-party MRO providers are notoriously complex, encompassing everything from maintenance scheduling and manpower tracking to parts acquisition, inventory monitoring and distribution, and billing. As a result, software that manages these processes has to be complex as well as easy to use and able to play well with a company's existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and legacy systems.

This is the goal of VirtualWorks, the web-based solution offered by Ramco Systems (www.ramco.com). VirtualWorks is a software platform that can select appropriate IT solutions from more than 700 different business components and marry them into an integrated, interrelated whole. Its approach is based on choosing the solutions that a company actually requires, while leaving out those that it doesn't. The end result is `personalized' aviation software that integrates all elements of a company's data processes in an assembled aviation management solution that matches its unique workflow requirements.

For aviation owner/operators, aircraft maintainers, and third-party MRO providers, Ramco has customized VirtualWorks into an industry-specific package called Personalized Assembled Aviation Solutions. This product brings together the software applications that these users need, with modules such as Aircraft and Components Records management, Configuration Management, Maintenance Planning, Maintenance Program, and Reliability Analysis.

The Aircraft and Component Records module is centered on a database that records all aircraft subassemblies and components used by the software owner, whether they are in the warehouse or on-aircraft. It can capture data such as component manufacturer, MSN, model, part ownership, and part flight hours/cycles. Aircraft and Component Records can also monitor each part's remaining life cycle, based on user-defined parameters.

Ramco's Configuration Management module allows users to record and track structural details of client aircraft and their components, which is vital for meeting regulatory and internal reporting requirements. Its capabilities include the definition and tracking of subassembly interdependencies; if Part A fails, what effect does it have on Part B? It also includes rules for interchanging and intermixing components and tools for identifying configuration deviations.

The Maintenance Planning program helps users plan scheduled maintenance activities for aircraft and their components. This makes it possible to ensure the best possible use of hangar space and just-in-time parts acquisition. Meanwhile, Ramco's Maintenance Program module allows users to configure and manage standard maintenance programs for client aircraft; it forms the basis for all preventive maintenance activities executed by MROs, helping them to streamline their day-to-day activities.

Reliability Analysis provides detailed information on client aircraft and component reliability based on actual data. Doing reliability analysis at a fleet level allows MROs to devise a maintenance program for clients that minimizes their aircraft costs and downtime, while minimizing the MROs costs.

Ramco's Aviation Solutions covers all elements of aviation management, including technical records, engineering, operations, maintenance, e-signatures, material management, financials, human resources, sales, and decision support.

This is why MROs such as Conair of Abbotsford, Canada have deployed Ramco's Aviation Solution to support their operations. "In the past, we had struggled with duplication of effort due to our disparate systems," said Tony Quo Vadis, Conair's vice president of finance. "With Ramco's Aviation Solution, built on their VirtualWorks platform, we are now able to share key information throughout our company, increase our efficiency, and now have the tools to quickly gather information that is critical to key decision makers within the organization."

"At Conair, Ramco has implemented its complete collection of fleet maintenance, materials, human resource, payroll, and financial solution components," said Jim Fitzgerald, Ramco's vice president-Americas, aviation solutions. "In addition, Conair is deploying Ramco's DecisionWorks for decision support, balanced scorecard, and KPI management."

Making business run smoother for a wide range of industries is what Ramco Systems is about. Founded in 1989, it is a majority-owned subsidiary of Ramco, the India-based industrial conglomerate that has been in business since 1938. It typically enjoys an annual turnover close to $300 million and employs more than 7,000 people worldwide.

Ramco Systems supports more than 1,000 customer installations in more than 30 countries. Clients include Cisco, Columbia Helicopters, Hyundai, Philips, and Schlumberger. More than 1,200 IT professionals work at Ramco's 15 global offices located in the United States (Lawrenceville, New Jersey; Napierville, Illinois; and Milpitas, California), Ger-many, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, and India. They provide 24/7 support for the company's VirtualWorks solutions, which are now used in 70 different industrial sectors.

"Our mission is to provide aviation owner/operators, aircraft maintainers, and third-party MRO providers with the benefit of enterprise resource planning management software they need to run more efficiently and cost-effectively," said Fitzgerald. "By putting it together in a web-based package, we've made it easy to use." -- By James Careless

MRO Elements Covered in Ramco's Aviation Solution

Maintenance Planning:

� Prepare standard check card sets for A, B, C, D and other fixed-interval checks

� Perform rule-based scheduling of task cards

� Facilitate automatic definition of PM schedules for incoming rotables and equipment without planner intervention

� Facilitate project planning across checks

� Produce master sign-off sheet including non-routines, EOs, SBs, ADs, and access-panel tasks

Rotable Management:

� Create and monitor unlimited hierarchy of rotables

� Monitor unlimited number of parameters (including TSN, TSO, TSR, TSSV, TSFR, CSN, and CSO) for rotables

� Automatically inherit schedules for overhaul, bench test, and refurbishment upon receipt

� Maintain exhaustive histories including job shop findings

� Monitor removal rates with automatically calculated alert values

Job Card System:

� Capture all details related to task cards such as zone, AMM reference, skill, labor, material, and equipment requirements

� Attach any number of documents with multiple revisions and multiple formats

� Provide links to online documentation such as BOLD (Boeing On Line Documentation)

Technical Records System:

� Provide a number of pre-built reports for regulatory and management reporting

� Facilitate building of custom reports using built in report-writer tool

� Capture aircraft flight log details including flight hours, block hours, number of landings, fuel consumption, and oil consumption

� Capture snag details with automatic creation of deferred defects

� Monitor deferred defects