An on-line system for aircraft maintenance

Abstract

A few years ago, a Hong Kong aircraft maintenance company developed a computer-aided Planning and Control System (PCS). This system interfaces with 4 existing systems to produce on-line estimates of man-hour requirements. The company uses 4 data processing systems to run daily operations: 1. data capture system (DCS), 2. work card system (WCS), 3. job progress system (JPS), and 4. maintenance planning system (MPS). The PCS is designed to interface with the 4 systems, DCS, WCS, JPS and MPS, to set a plan for routine jobs, and more importantly to estimate man-hours for non-routine jobs for each control period. The 5 systems - DCS, WCS, JPS, MPS, AND PCS - are linked together to provide, in the Project Plan Summary, the man-hour distribution by trades in each control period of a project together with the estimated manpower requirements. Records show that since PCS as implemented, the overbooking of man-hours has been reduced by 40%, and productivity has been increased by 15-20%.