INSIGHTS ON MAINTAINING LINE MAINTENANCE IN DIFFICULT TIMES
We recently shared some personal experience of acquiring a new company in Canada – a deal that was made without any personal contact or physical visits, and the related struggles which this entailed.
The new company became part of our largest independent line maintenance network. Such organization and infrastructure are demanding, especially nowadays. That’s why in this post I’d like to highlight some of the key challenges in the current market of line maintenance:
- Balancing the demand for highly skilled engineers.
A crucial aspect of the business is keeping the teams and pool of contractors on-station, despite inconsistent workloads. It covers a wide range of aspects, from actual operations to maintaining basic agreements/needs, along with the personal motivation for each individual.
- Faster than ever reaction times and ad hoc operations.
Different regulations and ever-changing restrictions in countries. Airlines and operators follow the windows of possibilities and line maintenance must be ready to get on board. Now, it is an inevitable necessity to be able to shift your personnel, assets, and tools via an on-demand basis.
- Travel restrictions and mandatory isolation periods.
Work scope and migration planning are being put to the test as well. Mandatory longer transition periods with a high risk of “eliminating” (for several weeks) crucial team members. Every counterpart in the business is facing such risks, from us to our clients and partners.
- Sales and commercial operations without season.
In Lithuania, there is a saying “Man plans, God Laughs”. We all had our plans and expectations, yet markets are still in the clutches of a global pandemic. Sales and commercial officers on all sides are trying to align their outlook. It is a trial for market players; are we able to commit despite uncertainty and deliver our promises upon recovery?
SO, THE MOST DYNAMIC PART OF THE MRO BUSINESS BECAME EVEN MORE FORCEFUL.
The key take-away, and advice if you will, would be – LEAN. There is no “silver bullet” to resolve individual challenges, yet there are proven practical examples in FL Technics, that proper processes and discipline helps. A lot.
Despite circumstances, our team moves forward supporting our clients and partners, while leveraging:
- Established LEAN processes, this is a major part of work, even in current times
- Individual and flexible problem solving (border-by-border, quite literally)
- Dependable IT solutions and remote work processes
At this point, we can monitor our business data on a daily basis and react in real-time, whenever we see issues, disruption or opportunities. In fact, current LEAN principles and processes enable us to act proactively and grant optimal turn around time (TAT), as well as reducing costs to our clients all over our present network of capabilities, especially in Line Maintenance.