Waste Elimination and Productivity Enhancement Framework for Aviation Maintenance Manpower through Value Stream Mapping

Abstract

The aviation industry is booming in a rapid phase due to the exponentially increasing demand for air travel both locally and internationally. In response, the complexity of the modern aircraft too has expanded in leaps and bounds to accommodate the dynamic and the robust demand in terms of size, range and reliability. In this essence, the dependency and the concern on aircraft maintenance element cannot be over emphasised. The aircraft maintenance process, a mandatory aspect for any airline depends on four main inputs; Maintenance Manpower, Aviation Supply- Chain, Maintenance Infrastructure and the Regulative compliances. It is essential that these resources are to be optimally coordinated and efficiently executed to attain minimal operational costs, maximum reliability, optimal safety and fixed delivery times, which are the principal prospects of any airline to attain competitive advantage. Technical manpower is one of the most volatile and stochastic resource which determines the overall maintenance work output and therefore needs precise planning, scheduling and execution. Unlike in other industries where human resource planning is more research based and have gone through vast developments, the aviation industry seems to be lagging behind to a certain extent due to the confined nature and the complexity of the operations which yearns more research for future progress. In view of addressing the above, this research is based on a heuristic analysis of the current aviation maintenance manpower utilization and planning patterns and tends to identify the non-value added activities and to optimally marginalize them. Then optimal solution is derived through Value Stream Mapping technique which is a popular tool in the operational management domain. A case study is analysed encompassing two medium size airlines to execute the above.