operational function for fictitious aircraft company
manwypachecu79Running head: AVIATION MAINTENANCE SYSTEM DEFICIENCY 1
Aviation Maintenance System Deficiency 12
Aviation Maintenance System Deficiency
Manual Pacheco
Matthew Terry
Tyler Treat
Erik Reinle
Steven Valdez
MGMT/422 – Life Cycle Analysis for Systems and Programs in Aviation/Aerospace
Steve Walker
July 4, 2014
System Requirements
Aviation software requirements vary depending on whether or not the system is designed around a local solution or a cloud based solution. There are several advantages to either system design and several key disadvantages that could easily impact operations. The overall system design also limits the maintenance team to specific software packages and capabilities.
Initial review of system architectures shows cloud based architecture has the advantage over a locally installed software suite for several reasons. First and foremost, with a cloud based system, the department will not have to keep personnel on staff to manage and support the system. With the small size of the maintenance system, staff support will need to be kept at a minimal to maximize revenue, and this will provide the reduced overhead. Secondly, the maintenance system will require a system that has as high of availability as possible, which is possible with a cloud based system. Lastly, a cloud based environment will have lower system requirements than a locally installed software suite.
The software suite selected is the cloud based modular software suite from AvPro Software (avprosoftware.com). AvPro has a software suite that provides repair tracking software along with corporate fleet maintenance software. It can be designed around a cloud system, with all the support software available via Java. It can even be expanded to integrate into gate management software, along with flight scheduling software. Furthermore, the system provides an in house solution for the logistics and inventory management requirements. The support software (word processing and editing software) can also be based around cloud systems, with Microsoft offering their online office 365 portal for word and excel processing.
These cloud based software suites give the maintenance shop the ability to focus on their primary job roles without needing onsite IT personnel. They also allow the shop the ability to operate on several different platforms (PC vs MAC), allowing the mechanics the ability to choose their hardware platform individually. Overall IT design requires each maintenance department to have several tablet styled computers, either an IPad or a Surface 3. This will give the mechanics the ability to pull up schematics and designs while working on the aircraft and not be tethered to a specific location. For the office and warehouse, a minimum of 3 computers will need to be available for the day to day operations to occur. These computers should be mid-level computers, preferably ones with 3 year maintenance support contracts. Each location should have wireless access to a local printer, so each site should have a monochromatic laser printer to print on.
Since the system will be cloud based, the network backbone will need to be reliable and large enough to support multiple personnel streaming videos and data simultaneously. This means that the site should look towards getting either a T1 line or google fiber, if available. This will provide the users the bandwidth available for day to day operations, with the ability to scale up or down as needed. Each location should have its own wireless access point, with normal un-broadcasted SSID with 256-AES encryption.
This system design will insure that the maintenance department will not be impacted by any potential downtime, viruses or a system-wide data-loss. Since the nature of the work requires 100% documentation, having a system that is cloud based with a reputable company provides this ability to have continual backups and offsite data-storage.
Feasibility Analysis for Aviation Maintenance System Deficiency
A Feasibility study is a report that is used by organizations to conduct rational analysis and objectives of the project that they are intending to introduce or start, where they analyze the problem and the weakness in the real project development before they create a plan of the project. The reason for this study is for the new department to be aware of the various challenges and the strength that they have that will ensure their sailing of the department to proceed and achieve the goals as set to them by the organization. This information of the study has been collected from various sources of aircrafts across the continent on how they maintains their maintenance department and the various challenges they face while offering their services to the organization (Tang, S. 2003).
Project Overview
The department of aircraft maintenance has been very beneficial to aviation. This department will usually be responsible in all aircraft repairing and maintenance, the service that will be available at all the time when needed in emergencies and on the scheduled scheme of the maintenance after a certain hours or days to the specified craft on the schedule. It will have various activities, which will be different from other of kind department in other military aviations centers where it will be servicing the crafts and monitoring them to detect any problem before it shows up. They will be using software that has been designed to monitor all activities and processes of the aircraft on how they are working while flying to ensure zero technical errors have occurred for the aircraft. This department creation is to ensure the twelve aircraft are in good condition at all times, especially on any emergency when they are required. This is appropriate since it will reduce cost and wasted time on aircraft where the technicians have been outsourced which has been expensive activity.
Overview of the Area
This department has been located at California City where there has been many aircraft movement on the city by military, which has attracted the need of the department to be servicing them on a regular basis due to their frequent travelling. This introduction will bring about some impact to the economy where it will create employment in the city and improve the tackling of the emergences in the area that attracts use of aircraft. The department has been set at California since it has the largest number of the aircraft and has access to the necessary aircraft available easily. It is also located in a technology city where communication and network are readily available, which improves the security of aircraft software monitoring service.
Financial analysis
This is the most important analysis where it should be correct to ensure the department runs and it has not broken down. The department enquires financial support for its formation and to be maintaining to offer the targeted goals of the service to the aircraft since it is a starting department thus requiring creation finance. The department should at first look for the building within the airport where they will be residing to offer their services and keep their equipment that makes it necessary to rent or buy a house that should count on the financial budget. Since it is servicing eight aircraft, the maintenance cost should count for all of them approximately on the higher level to ensure no shortage of maintenance finance. This department is set to have an approximate of $5 million that will be in use in all department activities for its implementation.
Challenges
There are various challenges that are likely to face the department to bring it down which is shortage of finance before its implementation, which might lead to failure to the department. During the budgeting of department formation, all expense calculation should be on higher side for the department completion successfully (Sadraey, M. H. 2013). According to the study, the department will be very important after its implementation since its presence has very many advantages compared to the challenges that it might face thus making the department positive project for implementation.
System Operation Requirements
Hangar Maintenance Facilities
The Aircraft hangar maintenance area will have three areas the hangar bay, the Shop/Maintenance Area and the Squadron Administration/Operations area. An aviation facility consists of four land use areas. The Airside Facilities which will include the Landing and takeoff area, aircraft ground movement and parking areas. The landside facilities will include the aircraft maintenance areas and operations support areas. “Typically aviation facilities are designed for a specific aircraft known as the "critical" or "design" aircraft, which is the most operationally and/or physically demanding aircraft to make substantial use of the facility.” (AFD-101207-050). The design type for our facility will be type 1 fighter type aircraft, since our organization is focused on type 1 or fighter type aircraft. In addition there is no need to land and/or service larger type aircraft at our facility therefore we can keep our design criteria to the lowest design type.
Airside Facilities
The aviation facility will have a parallel runway system to accommodate multiple aircraft takeoffs and to lessen effects from bad weather conditions such as high winds. The runway orientation at out facility is 17L and 17R. This designation is determined from wind data taken over the last 5 years from surrounding area weather sources. The next airside component of the airside facility consists of aircraft ground movement and parking areas and is identified by taxiways and aircraft parking aprons. “Taxiways provide for free ground movement to and from the runways, helipads, and maintenance, cargo/passenger, and other areas of the aviation
facility.” (AFD-101207-050). Our facilities taxiway is set up parallel for our parallel runways and provides short access to the runway/ parking areas. The layout provides the following features entrance and exit taxiways, bypass, crossover taxiways; apron taxiways and taxi-lanes, hangar access taxiways, and full-parallel .This set up minimizes delays and simplifies aircraft taxiing routes. The taxiway is large enough to handle all of our 12 fighter aircraft. Our aircraft parking or apron area is utilized for aircraft parking, loading, unloading, and servicing of 12 aircraft. The apron area is located between the taxiway and the aircraft maintenance hangar. Next in the Airside facility will be the apron or parking area. The apron used will be a special purpose apron Special purpose aprons are provided for specific operations, such as providing safe areas for arming/disarming aircraft and other specific mission requirements that demand separation of or distinct handling procedures for aircraft.” (AFD-101207-050.). The special apron will be utilized because we will be operating and testing fighter type aircraft. In addition the apron scheme is set up that our aircraft will be parked at a 45 degree angle to avoid jet blast.
Landside Facilities
The landside facilities will consist of the aircraft maintenance areas and the aviation operations support area. These facilities will consist of a 2 maintenance hangars, operation support building and a parts storage facility, the main maintenance hangar is large enough to house 12 fighter aircraft for safe keeping for bad weather storage. The large hangar will be used for maintenance activities such as fuel cell maintenance, phase inspections, avionics and heavy maintenance activities. The other hangar will provide engine test and repair activities. The operations support building will be located on the next to the main hangar on the flight line side and will consist of air traffic control, aircraft rescue and firefighting, fueling facilities, Maintenance groups and operations groups. A parts storage and supply facility will be attached to the back the hangar to provide all storage of new and removed parts. The storage facility will be able to provide logistical support for all aircraft maintenance needs.
Logistics and Maintenance Requirements
The analysis that was conducted for this report is the logistic support analysis (LSA). The basic principal for this analysis is to ensure that there will be no bottlenecks in support capabilities and logistic responsiveness. In support of the arriving unit, several factors will need to be considered such as; what the anticipated levels of repair that the unit will require are, anticipated availability of resources, and general overall repair policies such as “repair or replace” criteria (DAU, n.d.). The analysis will also cover the initial distribution and storage of any and all parts and supplies the unit will require and the facilities that will house each department. Operational considerations must also be addressed such as fuel and ground support equipment (GSE).
When looking at the arriving unit as a system, one of the first steps in the design of the system is to establish what type of initial support the unit will need. The arriving unit is expected to be twelve (12) fighter aircraft. With this in mind, initial manpower and personnel requirements will need to be established. The organizational unit (O-Level) will be divided into seven (7) departments ranging from operations, avionics, Flight equipment, weapons, training, and airframes and power plants. Initial personnel numbers for each department will range from twelve to twenty-four, but will be flexible depending on mission requirements.
An intermediate level (I-Level) test and repair section will also be established to facilitate all scheduled and unscheduled repairs the O-Level maintenance cannot sustain. The I-Level support section will be divided into seven (7) maintenance departments to mirror the needs of the organizational unit and to offer any support not applicable to the organizational unit. The I-Level section will also provide the ground support equipment (GSE) that the unit will need. The requirements for GSE will be dictated by type of aircraft the unit maintains, however three GSE units will be on hand per 2 aircraft. I-level personnel numbers will also be dictated by mission requirement, however the initial establishment will be between six to twelve personnel for each department. No depot maintenance will be established at this location, however if parts or equipment need to be repaired not sustainable by I-Level, they will be shipped to the appropriate repair facility.
A shipping and supply department will also need to be established and will be divided between packing and handling, storage and transportation (Blanchard, 2008). Both departments will have the initial requirements of twenty-five personnel each. The shipping department will ensure that all materials are packaged and shipped according to postal regulations. They will establish any and all third party logistics (3PL) contacts to ensure continuity between supply chains. A warehouse will be located near the shipping department that will house all of the spare parts and consumables that the unit will need. The warehouse will need about twenty-four personnel to function across multiple work shifts. Initial requirements for all parts and consumables will be evaluated on a system operational requirement and any scheduled maintenance dictated by technical manuals.
If not already present at the location, a fuel farm and delivery system will need to be established. This will consist of safely maintaining and storing enough fuel supply for three months. A minimum of eight trucks will need to be available. Four fuel trucks and two defuel trucks. The initial requirements of fourteen personnel will manage the driving and operating of the equipment. All personnel will have to be licensed to operate the trucks. If a fuel farm is not operational at the location, an environmental feasibility analysis will have to be conducted to ensure that there is no detrimental harm to the environment.
Facilities will need to be established to maintain and house twelve aircraft, all levels of maintenance, support and warehouse and supply sections. Fund considerations associated with facilities include power, heating and air, environmental controls, and communications (Blanchard, 2008). The request for these considerations will be included in the feasibility analysis.
Finally, to ensure that all levels are communicating effectively a computer system will need to be established. This includes all hardware, software, and accessories required to perform system maintenance at each level (Blanchard, 2008). In addition to communications, technical data information will need to be applied to all computers to facilitate training and the repair of all equipment at the organizational and intermediate levels.
This analysis was prepared to ensure that the entire system will operate as one unit under each phase of integration to the location. The system must be designed for sustainment and supportability if the entire project is to be effective.
Technical Performance Measures
Technical Performance Measures (TPMs) are exactly what it sounds like, measurements of how the system is performing. Blanchard states, “The number of objectives may be numerous, and the designer needs to understand which are more important than others and the relationships between them.” (2008, p.68). In order for our maintenance department to be successful, we must determine and prioritize our TPMs. An objective tree is utilized to help prioritize these objectives. (Fig. 1). The basic measurement of any system is the cost-effectiveness and the system effectiveness. The following measures, listed by priority, lay out the TPMs to be used for designing and developing our maintenance department. The cost-effectiveness of this maintenance department will be determined by maximizing the amount of utility derived from all personnel and equipment assets while minimizing the cost throughout the lifecycle. The system effectiveness of the maintenance department is determined by evaluating many different aspects of the system. The ability level of the technicians must also be measured to ensure that there is sufficient expertise on site with the qualifications to work any and all systems. The computerized maintenance documentation and tracking systems must perform at an accelerated rate to keep up with the high demand of the flight schedule. The location of the facility must be selected for its proximity to training ranges and strategic military locations. High efficiency ground support equipment (GSE) must be utilized to reduce cost and adhere to the emissions restrictions. Sustainability of this equipment is imperative to the longevity of this department.
To improve strategic ability
To meet military standards
To use all available technology
To exceed training requirements
To maintain uniformity
To be readily available
To obtain high performance
To maximize efficiency
To minimize overhead
To maximize effectiveness
To maximize cost-effectiveness
To design and develop an aircraft maintenance department for military use utilizing technology and reducing costs to the taxpayer.
References
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Blanchard, Benjamin S. (2008) System Engineering Management. John Wiley &Sons, Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey
Department of Defense. (2008). Unified Facilities Criteria. Retrieved from http://www.safie.hq.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-101207-050.pdf
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