A new era for MRO?

 

MRO Management’s Jason Holland spoke to a selection of the sector’s biggest names for their take on the state of the MRO industry, strategies for the year ahead, and their thoughts on the key innovations and technologies that will help them through 2022.

 

With insight from Lufthansa Technik, ST Engineering Singapore, AAR, AFI KLM E&M, HAECO, Etihad Engineering, Joramco, aircraft painting and exterior coatings specialists MAAS Aviation, and aero engine manufacturers and maintenance providers IAE and MTU Aero Engines, read the full article on Aviation Business News and extracts of our contribution below.

 

Changing priorities

 

Louis Philippe Mallette, senior vice president operations at AJW Technique, sees flexibility as one of the company’s main strengths as an independent player, along with choice and customisation.

 

“The future for the MRO aftermarket is looking strong, and we are setting ourselves up for success,” he says, referencing the fact that AJW Technique has been expanded into a franchise. Its original facility in Montreal, Canada, has now been followed by a European centre of operations near London Gatwick Airport.

 

“Throughout the year, we have seen volumes recover progressively as borders reopened in the Americas, Europe and across the globe,” he says.

 

“Volumes have picked up exponentially over the last few months, nearing 2019 levels for some airlines. Our key customers are sharing with us their forecasted flight plans for 2022 and with industry experts predicting MRO spend to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, we have a very confident outlook for the coming year.”

 

Mallette notes a shift in the repairs market with more mechanical units than avionics work. “Most airlines have their own in-house repair services on a subset of capabilities. The pandemic has caused rapid divestitures of some parts of each business, especially where there is heavy leasing and labour expenses,” he says.

 

“We see a greater share of airlines outsourcing their maintenance in the hopes of reducing their internal cost structure, especially as MROs have become even more cost competitive now that there are fewer that survived the pandemic. AJW Technique, for one, continues to build on strategic partnerships and acquisitions of MROs globally to ensure we can provide a full head-to-tail maintenance experience.”

 

Innovations and technologies

 

Nevertheless, there is much companies can do currently to speed the process of digitalisation. At the beginning of the pandemic, AJW Technique did exactly that by building digital tools and dashboards to closely monitor fleet recoveries by customer and by platform to ensure its operations were synchronised with flying patterns.

 

The company also invested in tools to enable a digital shop floor, with the aim of maximising technicians’ component touch-time. Examples include productivity trackers, automated payables and receivables, credit control automation, turn-around time gaming systems, performance management dashboards, piece parts provisioning models, and dynamic pricing algorithms.

 

“We have also tested asset location tracking using RFID and Bluetooth technology as a proof of concept. This allows technicians to have a full view of high value assets at their fingertips facilitating traceability and workflow management,” Mallette says.

 

“We predict that more aviation businesses, MROs, OEMs, airlines and brokers alike, will come together to develop more digital products that fix core industry issues, as opposed to creating siloed solutions that solve bits of their four walls. Most part sales businesses have gone fully digital as well.”

 

Read the full article here