Today's providers of maintenance and in-service support related to modern aircraft are facing major challenges. A central problem with Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) as well as support of aircraft and other complex technical systems, is to manage the ever-increasing information flow and system complexity. Both military and commercial operators need to reduce aircraft downtime and maintenance man hours. Increased manual information management has the opposite effect, inducing unnecessary cost and affect efficiency negatively. Organizations developing and providing maintenance support products and in-service support does also need to improve the capability to efficiently exploit the increasing amount of digital product information and design data provided together with hardware (HW) and software (SW) products from aircraft manufacturers, sub-system suppliers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). One way to increase aircraft availability and improve maintenance and support efficiency, is to speed up the turnaround time for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. The ultimate goal is risk-based utilization and support, where true Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) is integrated with current operational requirements and available resources in real-time. This aims at the elimination of all preventive scheduled maintenance based on fixed time intervals and execution of only corrective maintenance that has been predicted and turned into scheduled maintenance facilitated by proper support. To address the challenge of information logistics of digital product data and information within maintenance in-service support, providers need to adapt new methodologies and tools that enable full utilization of the advantages of digital product data and information in processes and business models, e.g., Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). To implement such improved support solutions in a global-support environment, eMaintenance is seen as one important building block. eMaintenance includes monitoring, collection, recording and distribution of real-time system health data, maintenance-generated data as well as other decision and performance-support information to different stakeholders independent of organization or geographical location, 24h a day, 7 days a week (24/7). eMaintenance has the potential to improve the management and performance of activities related to the whole maintenance process, and thereby improve the dependability, safety and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of critical systems. This can be realized through a coordinated application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) throughout the maintenance and support processes, thus integrating Built-in Test (BIT) systems, external tests at different maintenance echelons, technical information, diagnostics, prognostics and other sources of support information. The purpose of this paper is to present some results from a joint academic and aerospace industry research project, describing requirements and expectations that are important in a global-support environment, and also to propose some central components in an eMaintenance framework that integrates maintenance and ICT perspectives.

eMaintenance-Information logistics for maintenance support

Most industrial customers are looking for products that meet the functional performance needs and have predictable life cycle cost (LCC). Due to design problems and poor product support, these systems are not able to meet the customers' requirements. Major causes of customer dissatisfaction are often traced back to unexpected failures, leading to unexpected costs. However, with proper consideration of reliability, availability, maintainability and supportability (RAMS) in the design, manufacturing, and installation phases, the number of failures can be reduced and their consequences minimized. Based on a case study in a manufacturing company, an approach for integration of RAMS and risk analysis in design, development and manufacturing is presented. The importance of LCC analysis, use of feedback information, and integration of various information sources to facilitate easy RAMS implementation, in combination with risk analysis in the design phase, is discussed. An approach is suggested for integration of RAMS in the Stage Gate model for project and work process management, coordination and control, to reduce risk. A training program, developed and implemented during the study to create awareness and to improve learning and understanding of RAMS' aspects of existing and future products and processes, is also presented.

Integration of RAMS and risk analysis in product design and development work processes: A case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of RAMS engineering in industry and research.Design/methodology/approach – A range of research articles (1988‐2005) covering RAMS engineering is discussed to provide a practical and theoretical overview of RAMS engineering in industry and research.Findings – The paper provides information about the current scenario and also about the past scenario of RAMS engineering in research and industry. Research limitations/implications – This paper reviews much of the literature on RAMS engineering. The literature is collected from major journals and conference proceedings, the period covered is from 1988 to 2005. The authors have tried to make it reasonably comprehensive, but those papers which are not included were either inadvertently overlooked or considered peripheral to this survey. In the present work the authors have only considered those articles which have included two or more aspects of RAMS. Practical implications – The paper is a very useful...

An overview on reliability, availability, maintainability and supportability (RAMS) engineering

Reliability and availability assessment of seabed storage tanks using fault tree analysis

The failure of a technical system represents two different kinds of change. One change is the degradation of system functions, while the other change is the increase in stakeholder requirements. He ...

Maintenance and continuous improvement of complex systems : linking stakeholder requirements to the use of built-in test systems

Describes how the terms system effectiveness from a logistics perspective and life cycle cost effectiveness were designed into the Gripen combat aircraft and how they are now being taken care of in the operational phase. Notes that in the early concept phase, there was focus on availability performance and life support cost. To ensure future operational and support cost the contract between the vendor and customer included logistic parameters that were to be predicted and followed‐up during the design phase. The Gripen system is today in operational use and operational data is continuously collected and monitored and provides essential input to the process of continuous improvement of the product and the support system. Concludes that working with a focus on availability performance and life support cost over the product life cycle has helped to develop a state‐of‐the‐art high performing aircraft both in terms of operational performance and cost effectiveness.

Ulrika Strömberg

Papers

Gripen: with focus on availability performance and life support cost over the product life cycle