Solutions : Operator Edition

IFS Maintenix Operator Edition improves efficiency and predictability in all areas of aircraft maintenance. This is achieved through tailored planning and control capabilities for each maintenance environment, and by bringing the tools and information to the mechanics where they perform their work.

• Direct communications between line technicians and maintenance control provides real-time views of latest work assignments and status, helping simplify ad hoc decision-making and troubleshooting
• Collaborative deferral management capability for fast, effective and recorded decision making
• Real time access into supply chain verifies correct parts and tools are available on location, minimizing delays that might ultimately lead to an aircraft on ground (AOG)
• Visibility into the status of an entire heavy maintenance visit, with drill down to view and adjust the work to be performed on a shift, by a crew, or by a technician
• Repair standards and automated shop routing to streamline the component repair process
• Electronic signatures support, safeguarding accountability and data integrity

Planning in aviation maintenance occurs over multiple different time horizons, with different planning outcomes sought, and different granularity of planning occurring over these time horizons. IFS Maintenix Operator Edition helps build the best plans by tailoring the user experience and building tools optimized to each of these planning horizons.

• Long range planning tools allow for the scheduling of large maintenance visits to available slot capacity utilizing rules-based automation, while allowing for rapid what-if analysis and scenario evaluation
• Day of operations and short-term planning are supported with planning in context of both the flight plan, and available capacity to perform maintenance
• Advanced search and filter capabilities allow for the rapid assembly of a heavy maintenance workscope and the evaluation of fit to the available maintenance window
• Updates made by engineering are automatically applied across all aircraft fleet and associated task deadlines, enabling managers to focus on planning work instead of determining what work needs to be planned
• Task resource lists are automatically assembled from engineering definition or defect record, expediting plan build and ensuring effective execution

The goal of aviation supply chain and warehouse management is to deliver parts on time, but critical to aviation is to ensure delivery of the right part on time at the lowest cost possible. Given the high cost of components and a global network of maintenance locations, advanced material planning and control capabilities are a must. IFS Maintenix Operator Edition delivers this through:

• Auto-reservation evaluates parts demands with latest maintenance plans and associated priorities to ensure accurate parts fulfillment, enabling material planners to focus on managing exceptions
• Alternate check feature identifies where alternate parts are available to expand fulfillment, in line with aircraft’s engineering definition, for optimal inventory use
• Extensible framework for material planning enables use of internal algorithms, or adoption of external supply chain optimization tools
• Procurement automation and Spec2000 procurement APIs allow for automatic low cost, high volume purchasing, so procurement teams can focus on high value purchasing
• Quality control inspection requirements automatically flagged and controlled during shipping and receiving to streamline the part induction process while maintaining regulatory compliance
• Warehouse management tasks like picks, putaways and transfers are managed through the network of warehouses and airport locations across the supply network

As aviation maintenance practices evolve to meet changing times, mobile and remote maintenance will continue to gain traction and shift from the background to the foreground.

The mobility brought to forward/line maintenance functions within IFS Maintenix will help in establishing connected workforces for airlines and fleet operators that lead to improved aircraft serviceability and maximized aircraft turnaround efficiency.

IFS Maintenix delivers Forward/Line maintenance mobility through:

• The ability to streamline the assignment of work to technicians, providing the supervisor the capability to assign technicians to individual tasks, or to arriving aircraft.
• Enable remote assistance of the technicians through augmented reality technologies, allowing a central expert to see what the technician is seeing in real-time and provide suggestions. 
• Provide line and field technicians with situational awareness, supporting quick and effective actions.
• Efficiently and confidently update aircraft maintenance records, enabling paperless solutions and progress monitoring.
• Enable engagement with day-of-operations actors in a streamlined fashion to expedite releases.
• Support technicians wherever they are performing maintenance, maximizing hands-on metal.

Military organizations operate in hostile environments characterized by remoteness, extreme weather conditions and threat of conflict, putting personnel, military assets, and communications channels in harm’s way.

IFS Disconnected Operations is designed to provide military and defense organizations the ability to deploy, operate, protect, and safely return air assets and data anywhere in the world for as long as needed with any level of connectivity from disconnected hardware, such as laptops. This defense aviation solution provides all maintenance capabilities required to retain mission effectiveness and compliance, enable technical records collection throughout missions and ensure data integrity and completeness upon base return. IFS Disconnected Operations delivers this through:

• The management of application and engineering data from aircraft and inventory assets from a central point to locations that are disconnected.
• Deploying assets to any operating theaters while safeguarding network resilience, regardless of connectivity constraints.
• Enabling securely operating assets with isolated records, while still ensuring data integrity through incremental consolidations.
• Improved accuracy and data consistency but safeguarding against duplication of data by having only one active asset record. 
• Providing full compliance with airworthiness requirements for disconnected bases via a technical records repository for all outposts.