Aircraft maintenance planning and scheduling: an integrated framework

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how certain limitations of the current approaches to planning and scheduling of aircraft heavy maintenance can be addressed using a single integrated framework supported by unified data structures.Design/methodology/approachThe “unitary structuring technique”, originally developed within the context of manufacturing planning and control, is further enhanced for aircraft heavy maintenance applications, taking into account the uncertainty associated with condition‐based maintenance. The proposed framework delivers the advanced functionalities required for simultaneous and dynamic forward planning of maintenance operations, as well as finite loading of resources, towards optimising the overall maintenance performance.FindingsExecution of maintenance operations under uncertainty involves materials changes, rectification and re‐assembly. It is shown that re‐scheduling of materials (spare‐parts), resources and operations can be taken care of by simultaneous and dynamic forward planning of materials and operations with finite loading of resources, using the integrated framework.Research limitations/implicationsAs part of adopting the proposed framework in practice, it needs to be guided by an overall methodology appropriate for application‐specific contexts.Practical implicationsThe potential direct benefits of adopting the proposed framework include on‐time project completion, reduced inventory levels of spare‐parts and reduced overtime costs.Originality/valueExisting approaches to aircraft maintenance planning and scheduling are limited in their capacity to deal with contingencies arising out of inspections carried out during the execution phase of large maintenance projects. The proposed integrated approach is, capable of handling uncertainty associated with condition‐based maintenance, due to the added functionalities referred to above.

On the Optimization of Aircraft Maintenance Management

“…To the authors' knowledge, capacity planning, spare parts forecasting and inventory management, and task scheduling and resource allocation problems have not been solved using a systematic and integrated methodology within Operations Research. By doing so, strategic, tactical, and operational decisions can be made coherently throughout the management process, improving the overall efficiency of the MRO companies through the reduction of spare parts inventories and overtime costs, and, ultimately, the on-time completion of the maintenance projects (Samaranayake and Kiridena 2012). This constitutes an extremely complex problem, of great importance at the industrial level, and that deserves further attention from the research community.…”

Using a systems engineering framework for additive manufacturing

“…AM machine manufacturers have claimed that AM improves the lead time by a range of 40–90% . If the part in this illustration would normally have cost $1,000.00 and required a 20‐day lead time, the AM alternative would cost $25,000.00 with a required a 4‐day lead time (∼80% improvement on lead time). The AM alternative would be $24,000.00 more but would save 16 days of lead time.…”

A survey of maintenance and service logistics management: Classification and research agenda from a maritime sector perspective

“…The majority of research in this area focuses on the resource-constrained maintenance scheduling of a fleet of aircraft (see, e.g., [93,94]). We refer to [95] and the references therein for further information on this research area. Similar applications in the maritime sector can be found in [7] and [96].…”

“…Similarly, about 50% of the total work involved in heavy maintenance of aircrafts are unplanned maintenance activities arising out of inspections carried out during an aircraft lay-up [95]. A framework that facilitates a proactive response that mitigates the impact of such unpredictable maintenance activities in aircraft maintenance can be found in [95].…”