Centralized management of maintenance and materials for commercial aircraft fleets

• US 7,548,802 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2005
• Issued: 06/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Bueser, Matthew C., Nomi, Margaret L., Thacker, Grant H., Avery, Robert L., Khera, Cheryl, Cronie, Wendy, Rhodes, Patricia, Kirkish, Paula M., Leonhardi, David R., Moloney, Jay P., Fromm, Erik
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Dalena
• Application Number:
  US11/281,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20070112488A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,308 Days
• Field of Search: 701 29- 31, 701/301, 701/320, 701/35, 702/182, 702/185, 714/33, 714/736
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; 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: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

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.

Claims

1. A method of managing maintenance of fleet aircraft for multiple customers, comprising the steps of:

(A) collecting data from each aircraft in each of the fleets related to the operation of each aircraft, including aircraft in flight, said data comprising real-time information relating to a plurality of onboard aircraft systems;

(B) transmitting the data from each aircraft to an operations center, said transmitting comprising relaying the data from each of said aircraft while in flight;

(C) converting the data into maintenance information useful in managing maintenance for each aircraft, said maintenance comprising said plurality of on-board aircraft systems; and

,

(D) planning and scheduling maintenance for each aircraft in the fleets from the operations center using the maintenance information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

(E) managing a plurality of aircraft maintenance providers from the operations center, based on the maintenance planned and scheduled in step (D).

3. The method of claim 2, wherein step (E) includes:

managing maintenance, repair and overhaul operators (MROs), and managing aircraft part suppliers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein step (E) includes issuing requests from the operations center to the part suppliers for delivery of parts to the MROs.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein step (E) includes managing a parts supply chain providing parts used in the maintenance of each aircraft.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data includes:

on-board aircraft faults, the number of aircraft flight hours, and the number of aircraft flight cycles.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data includes the current flight configuration of each aircraft.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (B) is performed using wireless communications.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(E) storing the data and the maintenance information in a plurality of computer-based servers;

(F) placing the servers in a common data communications network; and

,

(G) providing aircraft maintenance providers with access to the network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (D) includes planning and scheduling line and base maintenance for each aircraft.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(E) providing maintenance services for each aircraft; and

,

(F) charging each of the customers a fee for the maintenance services provided in step (E) based on the number of flight hours each aircraft in a respective fleet is in service during the time interval that the maintenance services are provided.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the fee charged in step (F) is adjusted based on criteria related to the performance of each aircraft during the time interval.

13. A method of managing maintenance of fleet vehicles for multiple customers, comprising the steps of:

(A) collecting data related to the operation of the vehicles including collecting said data while said vehicles are in transit;

(B) converting the data collected in step (A) into maintenance information useful in managing maintenance for the vehicles;

(C) accessing the maintenance information at a central operations center; and

,

(D) managing a plurality of vehicle maintenance providers from the operations center using the maintenance information accessed in step (C).

14. The method of claim 13, wherein step (A) includes:

wirelessly transmitting the data from the vehicles to the central operations center, and storing the data at the central operations center.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

(E) storing the maintenance information in a computer based server;

(F) connecting the maintenance providers in a data communications network with the central operations center and the computer-based sever; and

(G) sending maintenance requests to the maintenance providers through network.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the maintenance information includes information related to spare part inventories.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the data includes:

on-board vehicle faults, the number of vehicle operating hours, and the number of vehicle operating cycles.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the vehicles are aircraft and step (D) includes:

managing maintenance, repair and overhaul service organizations (MROs) at a plurality of locations, and coordinating the delivery of parts from part suppliers to the MROs.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of planning and scheduling maintenance for each of the vehicles, and wherein step (D) includes sending maintenance scheduling requests from the operations center to the maintenance providers.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein step (D) includes issuing requests from the operations center to part suppliers for delivery of parts to the maintenance service providers.

21. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of furnishing each customer with a guarantee that the vehicles provided with maintenance using the maintenance providers managed in step (D) will demonstrate a preselected level of performance reliability during the time interval.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the vehicles are aircraft, and the method further comprises the steps of:

(E) contracting with geographically distributed maintenance, repair and overhaul service organizations (MROS) to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul services required by customer'"'"'s aircraft; and

,

(F) contracting with part suppliers to provide directly to the MROs, the parts required for maintenance, repair and overhaul of the customers'"'"'s aircraft.

23. A method of centrally managing the maintenance of a commercial fleet aircraft for customers, comprising the steps of:

(A) contracting from a central operations center with a plurality of maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations (MROs) to provide maintenance service for the aircraft, said maintenance comprising a plurality of aircraft systems that constitute an individual aircraft;

(B) contracting from a central operations center with a plurality of part suppliers to provide parts required for supporting the maintenance provided by the MROs;

(C) collecting and storing maintenance information at said central operations center useful in managing the maintenance, said maintenance information including real-time status of said plurality of aircraft systems including in-flight status, at least a portion of said maintenance information collected from the aircraft while the aircraft is in flight;

(D) accessing the maintenance information at said central operations center; and

,

(E) managing the MROs and the part suppliers from the central operations center using the information accessed in step (D).

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

(F) collecting data at said central operations center from each of the aircraft relating the operation of the aircraft; and

,

(G) converting the data into the maintenance information.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the data includes:

on-board aircraft faults, the number of aircraft flight hours, and the number of aircraft flight cycles.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein step (E) includes issuing directives from the central operations center to the part suppliers directing the parts suppliers to deliver parts to the MROs.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein step (E) includes:

remotely managing from the central operations center, an inventory of parts located at customer maintenance sites, recording when the customer removes a part from the inventory, and charging the customer for a part when the part removal is recorded.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the maintenance information includes the current flying configuration of each of the aircraft.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the maintenance information includes:

aircraft reliability analysis, maintenance planning, execution of maintenance at line and base stations, and maintenance control.

30. The method of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

(F) providing the customer with a guarantee of an agree-on level of aircraft performance resulting from the maintenance provided by the MROs; and

,

(G) sharing the responsibility for the guarantee between the central operations center and the MROs.

31. The method of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

(F) interconnecting the central operations center, the MROs and the part suppliers through a common data communications network; and

,

(G) providing the MROs and the part suppliers with access to the stored maintenance information through the network.

32. A system for managing maintenance of commercial aircraft fleets, comprising:

an on-board aircraft system for collecting data relating to the operational status of each aircraft in flight comprising said commercial aircraft fleets and wirelessly transmitting the data for each aircraft while in flight to a central operations center;

said central operations center for receiving and converting the data into information useful for managing the maintenance of each aircraft, and for managing each of a plurality of maintenance service providers; and

,

a shared communications network connecting the operations center with customers comprising the commercial aircraft fleet operators and each of said plurality of maintenance service providers.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the operations center includes a computer-based server system for storing the information and providing the customers and the maintenance service providers with access to the stored information.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the server system is programmed to plan and schedule maintenance for each aircraft, and communicate the planned maintenance schedule to the maintenance service providers.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein the data includes recorded on-board aircraft system faults, the maintenance history of each aircraft and the number of flight hours and cycles of each aircraft.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein the operations center includes a first computer-based server for managing maintenance parts for each aircraft, and the system further comprises a second computer-based server coupled with the first server through the shared network and located at a maintenance parts suppliers site.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein the shared network includes an Internet portal providing access to a website hosted by the central operations center.