News

Pekamco Technologies--August 31, 2011--In the world of operating heavy aircraft, maintenance is a necessary, costly and required procedure that is integral to providing safety in the skies around the globe. Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) projects must be planned and prepared for in advance and pre-preparation job card analysis of previous projects' job cards provide insight into where costs may be trimmed on future projects.

Let's face it, heavy maintenance on airborne assets is an expensive venture, one that cuts deeply into the already razor thin profit margins for governments, airlines and aircraft operators of all types. So, the uncovering of cost-cutting is integral to success and pre-preparation job card analysis is a key step to realizing cost-cutting opportunities. Whether the MRO project is performed in-house or by a third-party, there are typically cost overruns that may be avoided in future projects if proper analysis is performed.

Pre-preparation job card analysis may be carried out by an aircraft operator's own engineering department and can take days weeks or even a month. Paying the engineering department to pore over thousands of job cards is a waste of valuable (and expensive) resources, and again cut deeply into the profits that all aircraft operators so closely guard.

An aircraft operator may choose to have their MRO provider perform pre-preparation job card analysis for them, but these analyses will be viewed from the perspective of the MRO provider not the aircraft operator's, and can therefore provide little to no opportunity for cost-trimming and can cost more than doing it internally to boot!

Outsourcing this menial and tedious task is the best solution for 3 reasons (explained in further detail below):

1. Aircraft Maintenance Consultants (AMCs) look at things from the perspective of their client, NOT the MRO provider's

2. AMCs perform the task at much lowered cost

3. The report is comprehensive and actionable

An Aircraft Maintenance Consultant (AMC) doing the pre-preparation job card analysis for the operator means that the analysis is done with an eagle eye toward areas of previous projects where any cost savings can be found. Whether it's better manpower utilization, parts and components sourcing or simply better project management and planning, there are most assuredly places where costs can be reduced.

The AMC can provide this service at a much reduced cost than an internal engineering department due to lower average hourly rates and can save an operator thousands of dollars per project review.

The analysis is still performed by highly skilled and experienced aircraft engineers, of course and is presented in a concise, fully comprehensive report. From this report, job cards can be prepared for the upcoming project(s) in a more streamlined way and with insight into where costs can be reduced...sometimes dramatically.

It is clear that outsourcing pre-preparation job card analysis is the best route for any aircraft operator to take, but there are scant few companies that specialize in offering this solution. (Continued in the column to the right)