Outsourcing of Aircraft Maintenance

This paper of Philip Condit and the Development of the 777; describes the management, and technological changes that Philip Condit made to the development style of the Boeing Company. Before Philip Condit took over the 777 program, Boeing had been making airplanes in the same fashion as it had been doing for 70 years prior. Mr. Condit saw the chance to bring Boeing into the 21st century not only with the new technology of computer aided drafting, but with modern management techniques as well. The 777 program proved to be the perfect testing ground for a companywide change in the way Boeing did its business.

Aircraft Solutions (AS) is a recognized leader in the design and fabrication of component products and services for companies in the electronics, commercial, defense, and aerospace industry. Located in Southern California, AS has a dedicated, trained workforce and maintains a large capacity plant and extensive equipment to meet customer requirements. Much of the equipment is automated to increase production while reducing costs. The company's workforce has a large skill base: design engineers, programmers, machinists, and assembly personnel to work its highly-automated production systems.

Seventy percent of the aircraft’s production and designing was outsourced to over fifty Tier 1 suppliers compared with only thirty-five to fifty percent that was traditionally outsourced in the production of other aircrafts (S. Tang and D.Zimmerman, 2009: 77). In late 2008, over twenty-seven thousand Boeing employees went on strike due to the company’s outsourcing policies and what its effects on job security (Doornbos n.d.). The strike lasted for fifty-seven days and it would cost Boeing a total of three months in production time, an estimated $100 million a day in revenue, and approximately $7 million a day in net income (Isidore

By outsourcing, Qantas is able to significantly reduce costs and maintain it’s competitive advantage. However this advantage also has a draw back, hundreds of engineers have also been cut from their jobs and have had their jobs given to people overseas. This puts a bad reputation on the name of the business as an Australian business will cut jobs from Australian workers and supple foreign workers with jobs. Families and friends of these workers may feel resentment towards Qantas and choose to travel with another airline instead resulting in a loss of customers. This strategy has been effective in reducing cost but has resulted in a reduction of quality and safety and led to a decreased business reputation resulting in a loss of customers and stakeholders.

Will pilots understand the toll maintenance can take on crew chiefs when aircraft break? All is fine now when you land, throw the keys to a contractor and say “she’s broke”. The next day the aircraft is magically ready to go. The unit is now missing some of the most important logistical aspects of an aviation unit—management of time, manpower, resources, and training. Contracts should be left to the basic logistical concepts such as production, training, transportation, etc.

The maintenance contract may also include 24/7 call-out service at a set price in the event of an emergency, so you won't have to a) wait longer

Boeing’s management plan shows determination to improve through creation of new more members of their airplane family (commercial airplanes). This would also be achieved through integration of military platforms, systems for defense and the war fighter by use of network-centric activities. Boeing plan is also inclusive of creation of improved technology to solve problems across all business units. Boeing plans to e-enable airplanes where automation is the key to this development. Finally, Boeing is determined to arrange for financing solutions to its customers. Through this it will be able to attract more potential customers. Moreover, it can also be able to establish a better relationship with its customers through provision of incentives and sales promotion.

Boeing adopted the radical change approach for designing and developing the 787 Dreamliner not only to attempt to create new aircraft through the innovative design and advanced material, but it also drastically changed the production process. With a $10 billion dollar project in mind, the goal was to reduce the financial risks involved as well as the new product development cycle time. Meanwhile, Boeing produced a remarkably complicated supply chain that included greater than fifty partners in over 100 locations all across the globe. In addition to the complicated supply chain, they experimented with various firms in diverse areas to align complementary skill sets. Furthermore, this was the first time the company outsourced the two most crucial parts of the plane, the wings and the fuselage.

To further enhance JAS services to customers, the in-house engineers would provide aircraft maintenance advice and workshops for customers.

In the article which I have chosen, the author discusses one of Latin American’s most successful business stories in the last 20 years. This success comes despite the fact that the company is from an emerging market and developing country. The Brazilian company Embraer may not be known to the general public but it is known to those who make decisions on aircraft purchases including: international airlines, business jet owners, and military contractors. To build the reputation of the company and to become a success, there had to be an adequate knowledge of foreign markets and how to enter them. No aircraft manufacturer has been successful over the long run by staying in a home domestic market. Airline manufacturers such as Tupolev

Aircraft maintenance is very important for aviation industry and Aircraft are required to be maintained after a period of calendar time or flight hours or flight cycles. Aircraft maintenance is the inspection, repair, overhaul, modification of aircraft or aircraft component. Aircraft maintenance generally includes such tasks those tasks required to restore or maintain an aircraft’s systems, components, and structures with Airworthiness Directives or Service Bulletins and this is highly regulated, in order to ensure safe and correct functioning during flight. Aircraft maintenance requirements vary for different size and types of aircraft, experience which most aircraft need various type of preventive maintenance every 25 hours or less of flying time, and minor maintenance at least every 100 hours. Maintenance is influenced by some kind of operation, climatic conditions, storage facilities, age, and construction of the airplane. The profession of Aircraft maintenance requires extreme knowledge and adept expertise in performing the ingrained tasks. The aircraft maintenance engineer who is on duty he has a great responsibility to work professionally to ensure the safety of aircraft, customers and maintain the reputation of the team or company. The aircraft maintenance engineer normally works in an aircraft hangar and line maintenance and The aircraft maintenance engineer will undertake a number of processes including They may specialize by working on particular aeronautical

Due to customers’ needs and requests, Boeing has expanded its product line and services. The long tradition of aerospace leadership and innovation has given the company the advantages. Its broad range of capabilities includes creating new and more efficient commercial airplane, integrating military platforms and defense systems through

to meet its customers’ needs worldwide. Boeing is diversified as it consults operations all over

Maintenance Management is an orderly and systematic approach to planning, organizing, monitoring and evaluating maintenance activities and their costs. A good maintenance management system coupled with knowledgeable and capable maintenance staff can prevent breakdown problems and environmental damage; yield longer asset life with fewer breakdowns; and result in lower operating costs and a higher quality of instruments. The term ‘maintenance’ means to keep the equipment in operational condition or repair it to its operational mode. Main objective of the maintenance is to have increased availability of production systems, with increased safety and optimized cost. Maintenance management involves managing the functions of maintenance. Maintaining equipment in the field has been a challenging task since the beginning of industrial revolution. Since then, a significant of progress has been made to maintain equipment effectively in the field.

The income of mas is mainly generated from logistics and secondary activities such as aircrafts maintenances as well as technology development by coordinating the two it can help Mas to have a lower cost structure hence increase the value of the outcome product it can also help Mas to compete better in the aviation industry by understanding the connection between the value chain activities. Another important aspect is the issue of proper coordination with their union in the aviation industry, the consumers as well as their suppliers can help to add up the bonding between the companies. The improvement of primary and secondary activities by mas can have a positive impact on Mas because it can help Mas because it can help Mas to have higher profit which can be gained in the