AIRFRAME TECHNOLOGY
project can impact his delivery goal.
An auditor can look into these situations when evaluating the MRO. He
can, with practice, assess the operator's project controls and support
processes as a method of evaluating
project management strengths and
weaknesses.
Special requirements by the operator created by provisions in their ven-
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dor instructions may hobble heavy
check performance. The rule states
that the MRO must comply with
applicable portions of the operator's
maintenance manual. Application
of the operator's internal standards
to the repair station activities are not
assessed on their effect on the project.
Often, when this is pointed out by the
MRO, the rejoinder is that they must
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follow their manual requirements as
they direct. This is true. They must.
However, everyone's concept of what
constitutes the "applicable portion"
is different. The devil is in the differences.
Industry standardization
would help
Having watched all of this from both
sides it would seem to me that the
best low hanging fruit for improvements in this area is an effort to
standardize those processes that
are mutually shared in getting an
aircraft back in the air. Manage the
interface. For example, both operators
and MROs use nonroutine forms.
Industry level standardization of
nonroutine records could be devised
in a format that could be used across
both computerized and "hand
managed" platforms. A standardized nonroutine format with generally accepted methods of execution
would relieve everyone of the need
to address incompatibility of formats
when trying to manage discrepancy
and repair data.
Now this may seem trivial to
many, but, beyond routine task cards
provided by the operator, nonroutine task cards are the most used
form of the project. It is the vehicle
that records all of the maintenance
accomplished for check findings.
Between the MRO and operator its
format and presentation is currently
what the imagination can make it in
flavors both hardcopy and electronic.
It's the key product that records the
maintenance performed and provides the information to create the
bill. Just from an economic point of
view alone, it's worth considering.
Standardization here may have benefits largely by creating repeatability in
aircraft quality and reliability simply
by giving everyone an accurate idea
of what is going on.
A good example of a successful
standardization effort was the development of the 8130-3 Authorized
Release form. It's capable of being
completed electronically, or by hand;