I agree with the basic message of 'Stop
Downsizing' by Scott Brandt (Airline Business, October 1995). No
significant improvement in the maintenance cost structure has been
accomplished - not only over the last five years but in the last 25
years!Bearing in mind that the major elements of airlines' operating
costs have increased significantly over the past few years (ATC,
landing fees, ramp and passenger handling), the constant proportion
of 9 to 13 per cent of operating costs for maintenance is an increase in
real terms.Furthermore, I agree that downsizing is not the key to
significant maintenance cost reductions. What the industry (airframe
manufacturers, vendors, suppliers, aviation authorities and airlines)
has failed to achieve is a paradigmatic shift. Brandt's article describes
some methods to improve the existing maintenance systems, but it fails
to question the core of today's maintenance philosophies.Many
companies are using benchmarking to identify best industry practices
- maintenance companies compare themselves to similar
organisations, for example. This allows airlines to identify the
potential for a relative performance improvement. Instead, we should
use benchmarking against 'best process practices'. In other words,
airlines do not necessarily know how to process data efficiently
whereas insurance companies and banks do. The days are gone when
airframe manufacturers and the engineering community of major
airlines focused on aircraft as high tech equipment, no matter what
the cost. For some 30 years the aviation industry has emphasised the
improvement of hardware while business processes appear to stay
unchanged.About 50 per cent of maintenance costs are material. The
worldwide inventory held by the aviation industry for operational
support is $45 billion, costing operators $10 billion a year. No other
industry can afford such luxury. The aviation industry has yet to
maximise the use of advanced logistic concepts, and has still not
downsized the material supply pipelines.Too often airlines use new
technologies which really only copy traditional processes. The PC
used as a typewriter is one good example. Digitalised information
systems provide opportunities and improvements over microfilm, but
the whole library system could be revolutionalised if suppliers and
vendors had to supply their documentation via one CD Rom, issued
and revised by the airline manufacturer.The time-consuming revision
of hundreds of vendor documents would no longer be required, and
airline libraries could be downsized to zero.Maintenance programmes
and MELs often neglect the benefits of improvements in design,
production and material selection. New aircraft types are added to an
existing certification base in order to minimise certification costs, but
at the expense of cost-effective changes to operational procedures. I
am convinced that today's certification procedures have room for
improvement. After years of focusing on hardware improvements it is
time to scrutinise the business processes affecting operating costs, and
thereby maintenance costs.Downsizing maintenance organisations is
an important exercise in all airlines - but changing the business
processes is essential.Wolfgang KurthManaging directorHapag-Lloyd
FluggesellschaftHanover, Germany
Source: Airline Business
