Centralized management of maintenance and materials for commercial aircraft fleets with fleet-wide benchmarking data
First Claim
1. A method of managing maintenance of vehicle fleets for customers, comprising the steps of:
- (A) collecting data from each vehicle in the fleet relating to the condition of the vehicle;
(B) organizing a plurality of maintenance service providers under the control of an integrator to provide maintenance service for the vehicles in the fleet;
(C) organizing a plurality of part suppliers under the control of the integrator to provide parts used in the maintenance service; and
, (D) using the data collected in step (A) to establish the effectiveness of the maintenance service.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Turnkey maintenance of a customer'"'"'s aircraft fleet is managed by a single management service provider (MSP) controlling integrated maintenance and materials services from a central operations site. The MSP converts data received directly from on-board aircraft systems into information it uses to manage maintenance service providers and parts suppliers. The MSP contracts with and manages maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations (MROs) who perform the maintenance on the customers'"'"' aircraft at line and base stations. The MSP either remotely manages part inventories at the customer'"'"'s site, or manages suppliers who deliver the parts to the MROs. Maintenance planning, scheduling and execution information is exchanged between the MSP, MROs, part suppliers and the customers through a shared data communication network controlled by the MSP. The MSP charges the customer for the maintenance services based on a flat rate per unit of aircraft flying time.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of managing maintenance of vehicle fleets for customers, comprising the steps of:
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(A) collecting data from each vehicle in the fleet relating to the condition of the vehicle;
(B) organizing a plurality of maintenance service providers under the control of an integrator to provide maintenance service for the vehicles in the fleet;
(C) organizing a plurality of part suppliers under the control of the integrator to provide parts used in the maintenance service; and
,(D) using the data collected in step (A) to establish the effectiveness of the maintenance service. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of managing maintenance of commercial fleet aircraft for customers, comprising the steps of:
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(A) organizing maintenance service providers under the control of an integrator to provide maintenance service for the aircraft in the fleet;
(B) organizing part suppliers under the control of the integrator to provide parts used in the maintenance service;
(C) collecting real-time data related to the operation of each of the aircraft;
(D) converting the data collected in step (C) into information representing the reliability of each aircraft;
(E) establishing reliability benchmarks for the fleet using the reliability information; and
,(F) comparing the reliability of the aircraft in the fleet with the benchmarks. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of managing maintenance of fleet aircraft for customers, comprising the steps of:
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(A) organizing a group of maintenance service providers and part suppliers under the control of an integrator to provide maintenance service and parts for the aircraft in the fleet;
(B) collecting real-time data from each of the aircraft related to the operation of the aircraft;
(C) generating reliability information representing the reliability of the aircraft based on the data collected in step (B); and
,(D) using the reliability information generated in step (C) to establish benchmarks for the reliability of the fleet. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification