For every aircraft that takes off and lands, there are not only aviation professionals that perform the maintenance work on that aircraft, but there are also vendors and suppliers behind the scenes who provide the equipment, materials, and services to support the aviation maintenance operation.

Dr. Sandy Tokach is general manager for 3M's Aerospace and Aircraft Maintenance Division, a global supplier of aerospace manufacturing and maintenance, repair, and overhaul products from protective films to paint application systems to corrosion-management products.

Tokach began her career as a chemist after earning both bachelor and doctorate degrees in chemistry at North Dakota State University. Her insatiable quest for learning earned her a spot at 3M as a senior chemist and she rose through various divisions at 3M and eventually wound up in the Aerospace and Aircraft Maintenance Division. It was then that Tokach knew that she had found a career that would meet her desire to obtain knowledge about and help advance the two industries she was most passionate about: material science and transportation. "Once you are bitten by the aerospace bug, it's hard to resist being in the industry," said Tokach.

As if the deregulation of the airline industry wasn't enough, the industry has faced some of its toughest challenges in the past few years. These tough times are characterized by skyrocketing fuel costs, an ever-present labor bill that constitutes about 40 percent of the airlines' overhead, and a consolidation in the number of aircraft being used. At the same time, passenger volume is beginning to pick up, with a 7 percent increase over the previous year.

It is this environment that makes Sandy Tokach and 3M more valuable than ever for airlines and their maintenance staff. Tokach's dedication to being a team player and her diligent leadership ability helped 3M Aerospace attain a privileged status within 3M's parent corporation a few years ago. Strong results achieved by 3M Aerospace in this highly competitive and rapidly changing industry are the result of focusing on solving the problems her customers have.

Tokach and her team continually strive to be the first place that an aviation customer calls when they have a tough problem or challenge that they cannot solve for themselves. She believes in building strong working relationships with customers and building team learning so that every employee is a leader. "Every person on the team takes part in identifying industry needs and product solutions by initiating conversations in meetings directly with customers," Tokach said.

Tokach spends a large portion of her day traveling and working directly with 3M's customers. This meshes well with her philosophy that the output of a team effort is always greater than one can accomplish individually.

"Right now about 35 percent of my time is spent working with customers in the field," said Tokach. "I am committed to managing a delicate balance between time spent with customers and time spent in the laboratory developing the next solution for aviation's many challenges."

Through this quality face time with customers, Tokach and her team gained valuable insight about their own day-to-day challenges. Customer challenges run the gamut from managing issues about corrosion to detecting wiring faults and getting aircraft back into service quickly. "The aerospace industry is a driving force for material science technology because there are such demanding requirements for lightweight materials with the strength needed in aircraft construction," said Tokach.

In the aviation industry, quality is every other word. As such, 3M Aerospace is actively engaged in a six sigma quality improvement program. Tokach has seen firsthand how six sigma can eliminate defects, and help the aviation industry as its standards are quite high and the tolerance for defects is virtually nil. "I have witnessed the brilliance of six sigma most recently in the development of the 900AST from 3M, a handheld tester that locates and analyzes avionics wiring problems," said Tokach. "The tester is roughly 60 percent faster at diagnosing wiring problems than traditional methods. Customers, including aircraft maintenance managers and technicians, provided invaluable feedback and input as we worked to develop a design that is not only user friendly, but incorporates the functions of several standalone test units in one compact handheld unit."

Tokach said a key success factor in any field is the ability to learn from people and the synergy of working as a team. "Successful projects are never simply the result of intellect. There are people behind these endeavors working together to accomplish great things," she said.