Computing system to control the use of physical state attainment of assets to meet temporal performance criteria

• US 10,318,904 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2016
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Digital Holdings LLC (GE Vernova, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Johnson, Christopher Donald, Dulgeroglu, Ilkin Onur, Toledano, David S., Rasheed, Adam, Thanos, Aristotelis E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Alan S
• Application Number:
  US15/346,605
• Publication Number:
  US 20170323231A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/14 Travel agencies
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

A method of generating a recommendation of terms of an aircraft services contract is disclosed. Operations data pertaining to a planned usage of each aircraft of a fleet of aircraft is received. The operations data pertains to the fleet of aircraft for which an aircraft services customer seeks to enter into a services contract with an aircraft services provider. The operations data includes flight schedule data and flight policy data specific to each of the aircraft. Historical data pertaining to actual usage of other fleets of aircraft with respect to the flight schedule data and the flight policy data is analyzed. The analyzing includes generating an estimation of a risk associated with the services contract from the perspective of the aircraft services provider. An acceptable price for the services contract is generated such that the risk is mitigated from the perspective of the services provider. The terms pertaining to the service contract are communicated for presentation in a user interface. The terms include the acceptable price with respect to the operations data and the flight policy data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a first set of computer systems, the first set of computer system deployed in an aircraft service provider environment, the first set of computer systems communicatively coupled to a second set of computer systems, the second set of computer systems deployed in each of a plurality of aircraft services customer environments, incorporating one or more optimization modules, the one or more optimization modules configuring one or more processors of the first set of computer systems to perform control operations, the operations including;

collecting asset configuration data pertaining to the operating asset states of one or more fleets of aircraft over a time period, the asset configuration data stored in one or more databases of the second set of computer systems, the asset configuration data including values corresponding to fields in the one or more databases, the fields representing at least one of policy data pertaining to one or more operations policies, flight schedule data pertaining to one or more flight schedules, and operating cost data pertaining to operating costs associated with the one or more fleets of aircraft;

deriving assumptions of control input values for use by the first set of computer systems based on the operations data and inspection data;

performing a financial objective and constraints analysis with a simulation system for at least one subsystem of the one or more fleets of aircraft, the cost savings analysis including identifying a modification of at least one of the assumptions;

computing an estimated reduction of forecast error related to operating and service costs for the at least one subsystem over one or more time periods, the identifying based on comparisons of a first subset of the asset configuration data with a second subset of the asset configuration data, and

providing the first set of computer systems with access to a recommendation pertaining to operation of the at least one subsystem, the recommendation including a specification of a modification to a schedule, parts stocking quantity, part type, or inspection for a shop visit;

wherein the recommendation is physically implemented at or concerning a selected one of the one or more assets, the physical implementation of the recommendation causing one or more of;

a change of operational state or condition of the selected asset, a timing of a repair of the selected asset at a repair facility, or a change in a timing of operational movement of the asset.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset configuration data includes at least one of regulating requirements, maintenance requirements, terms of utilization, service work scope, inspection, and operations pertaining to the operating asset states.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations policies include a plurality of flight operations policies, the plurality of flight operations policies including a maximum percentage of engine thrust to be used at takeoff, climbing, or cruising for each aircraft in each fleet of aircraft, computed through simulated fixture time and replicated, said replications being at least one of a specified quantity of computing cycles through the simulated future events or set to replicate until such time as the rate of statistical confidence increases to a designated level, the computing capability being dynamically allocated to more than one processor according to the estimate of attainment of the specific confidence so as to compute in a specified duration, the assignment of assets to duty and the repair scope and the operations of the assets according to contractual or regulatory objectives or constraints.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the operating costs include at least one of fuel costs and maintenance costs and the cost savings analysis includes associating the one or more flight schedules and the one or more operations policies with the at least one of the fuel costs and maintenance costs, comparing said fuel and maintenance costs to one or more system control goal associated with a contractual or regulatory limit and dynamically reducing or increasing the granularity of simulated time step, input assumption value or number of processors to calculate the ratio of performance variation vs a performance metric.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of the at least one of the aircraft customer computer systems with access to the recommendation is based on an aircraft service customer entering into a maintenance contract with an aircraft service provider with respect to maintenance of the one aircraft.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing of the cost savings analysis further includes identifying the modification based on a reduction of maintenance costs for the aircraft over the time period.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the maintenance costs include inventory costs to be borne solely by an aircraft services provider pursuant to a maintenance contract between the aircraft service provider and the aircraft service customer and the operations costs include costs that are to be borne solely by the aircraft service customer pursuant to the maintenance contract.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of the at least one of the aircraft service customer computer system with access to the recommendation does not include providing the aircraft service customer computer system with access to a subset of the operations data that was collected from fleets of aircraft for which the aircraft service customer does not have an ownership interest.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the identifying of the modification includes calculating an estimated state of one or more subsystems of the one aircraft as a function of a subset of the operations data and a subset of maintenance data corresponding to the one aircraft over the time period; and

the recommendation pertains to changing at least one of a sequence of duty, a maintenance scope, or an operating policy to achieve a probability of a future state of the one or more subsystems.

10. A method comprising:

at a set of computers systems deployed in an industrial asset services provider cluster, incorporating one or more contract risk calculation modules, the one or more contract risk calculation modules configuring one or more processors of the set of computer systems to perform operations, the operations including;

receiving operations data pertaining to a planned usage of each aircraft of a fleet of aircraft for which an aircraft services customer seeks to enter into a services contract with an aircraft services provider, the operations data including flight schedule data and flight policy data specific to each of the aircraft;

analyzing historical data pertaining to actual usage of other fleets of aircraft with respect to the flight schedule data and the flight policy data, the analyzing including generating an estimation of a risk associated with the services contract from the perspective of the aircraft services provider;

generating an acceptable price for the services contract such that the risk is mitigated from the perspective of the services provider; and

communicating terms pertaining to the service contract for presentation in a user interface, the terms including the acceptable price with respect to the operations data and the flight policy data;

wherein the contract is executed by a service provider and the execution of the contract cause one or more of the actions to be performed by the service provider in furtherance of the contact, wherein the actions include one or more of;

repairing the engine, ordering spare parts, installing parts, mixing and matching parts in the engine.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the risk is quantified using a model to forecast performance degradation and damage associated with each aircraft of the fleet of aircraft based on the historical data.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating an estimation of the risk based on whether a type of the services contract is a maintenance service agreement or a contractual services agreement and a calculated optimal ratio of total MSA agreements to total CSA agreements to which the aircraft services provider intends to adhere.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein an estimation of the risk is quantified by generating a forecast of time-based cash flows and financial performance resulting from the operations of the aircraft.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the analyzing of the historical data includes comparing exogenous factors related to the flight schedule data and the flight policy data with respect to corresponding factors associated with the other fleets of aircraft to probabilistically identify wearing of parts on the fleet of aircraft.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the services contract is a hypothetical services contract and the operations further include comparing the hypothetical services contract with an actual services contract to identify an unrepresented risk associated with the actual services contract so as to facilitate a reunderwriting of the actual contract.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising identifying areas of special risk that cannot be quantified or are too risky to underwrite in order to identify specific contract language to protect against those special risks.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating shop visit forecasts and parts inventory forecasts to enhance the comparing of the hypothetical services contract with the actual services contract.

18. A non-transitory machine readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving operations data pertaining to a planned usage of each aircraft of a fleet of aircraft for which an aircraft services customer seeks to enter into a services contract with an aircraft services provider, the operations data including flight schedule data and flight policy data specific to each of the aircraft;

analyzing historical data pertaining to actual usage of other fleets of aircraft with respect to the flight schedule data and the flight policy data, the analyzing including generating an estimation of a risk associated with the services contract from the perspective of the aircraft services provider;

generating an acceptable price for the services contract such that the risk is mitigated from the perspective of the services provider; and

communicating terms pertaining to the service contract for presentation in a user interface, the terms including the acceptable price with respect to the operations data and the flight policy data;

wherein the contract is executed by a service provider and the execution of the contract cause one or more of the actions to be performed by the service provider in furtherance of the contact, wherein the actions include one or more of;

repairing the engine, ordering spare parts, installing parts, mixing and matching parts in the engine.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, wherein the risk is quantified using a model to forecast performance degradation and damage associated with each aircraft of the fleet of aircraft based on the historical data.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, further comprising generating an estimation of the risk based on whether a type of the services contract is a maintenance service agreement or a contractual services agreement and a calculated optimal ratio of total MSA agreements to total CSA agreements to which the aircraft services provider intends to adhere.