Best practices in aircraft engine MRO : a study of commercial and military systems

Abstract

Maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) is a key activity in the lifecycle of an aircraft and its engines. Because of the typically long operational lifetimes expected from these costly assets, MRO is necessary to maintain these systems in a safe and functional condition, so that they can fulfill the operational role that they were designed for. The MRO system can be understood as a complex socio-technical system organized and operated to achieve aircraft availability and operation safety at minimal cost. As a complex socio-technical system, it consists of various layers: The environmental context, organizational structure, management, infrastructure, workers and the technical core. Focusing primarily on infrastructure, management, and manpower, this thesis seeks to identify best practices found within each layer by examining current practices in both commercial and military aircraft engine MRO, as well as surveying potentially useful concepts from related fields to propose how they can be applied to aircraft engine MRO. Among the issues presented are outsourcing, transportation, maintenance scheduling, inventory management, organization culture and human factors.