Application of Lean Methods into Aircraft Maintenance Processes

Aircraft Maintenance and Repair Organizations (MRO) have to be competitive and attractive for the existing and new customers. Aircraft ground time at the MRO has to be as short as possible as well as cost efficient without reducing the quality of the accomplished work. Application of lean methods into aircraft maintenance processes means continuous improvement process and elimination of non-value-added activities during the maintenance check. There is on one hand an obligation to follow the prescribed procedures and on the other hand a pressure for the time and cost reduction. The paper presents the application of lean methods to the aircraft maintenance processes. A comprehensive study of lean methods has been done in the first phase. Selected methods were then applied as pilot projects. The promising results have focused activities to the optimization of logistics. Several conclusions from the pilot project can be generalized to similar processes and organizations.