Aircraft MRO manager

• US 8,195,535 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2008
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fleetmx Aviation Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sinex Aviation Technologies
• Inventors: Nagalla, Dinakara, Stoltzfus, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel, Vanel
• Application Number:
  US12/256,183
• Publication Number:
  US 20100100271A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• Field of Search: 705/29, 705/28, 705/7.38, 705/7.15, 705/35, 705/305, 701/35, 701/29, 340/958, 340/945
• US Class Current: 705/29
• 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: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

Electronic aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) tools that improve an organizations ability to manage nearly every phase of an aircraft maintenance visit. MRO management may be implemented at the single aircraft level all the way up to the organization level including several facilities each of which include several aircrafts. The disclosed MRO management solutions assist with mapping out short term and long term planning; including manpower and material and tooling requirements. Additionally, current and future workloads may be identified and considered in advance of maintenance execution to significantly improve stakeholder satisfaction. The methods and systems disclosed generate an electronic contract based on a bill of work to control maintenance task execution, report progress of executing the tasks, and process scope changes to the bill of work and the associated contract. Improved communication of financial milestones and timely closure of both maintenance work and billing processes is facilitated by generating billing invoices and processing electronic approvals based on the electronic contract and the bill of work. Customer flexibility is improved by providing standalone management tools, as well as integration with existing external systems. Additional features include supply chain management and tooling controls necessitated by growing regulatory demands.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of managing maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of an aircraft, the method comprising:

generating an electronic contract with a computer system, the electronic contact based on a bill of work comprising a plurality of maintenance tasks to be performed on the aircraft;

generating an electronic progress report with the computer system, the progress report reporting progress of execution of the bill of work;

processing with the computer system, as necessary, one or more changes to the electronic contract necessitated by the execution of the bill of work; and

generating one or more invoices with the computer system, the invoices based on the electronic contract and the bill of work.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the electronic contract comprises retrieving data related to the bill of work and the maintenance tasks from an external production control system configured to electronically manage execution of the bill of work.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic contract comprises one or more of:

labor terms for one or more of the maintenance tasks in the bill of work;

additional terms related to non-labor based services; and

amendments that group one or more of the maintenance tasks in the bill of work.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the labor terms comprise one or more of labor rate per hour or per task, number of hours, and fixed or non-fixed hourly billing.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the additional terms comprise one or more of invoicing terms related to types and number of invoices generated during the execution of the bill of work, material and tooling price mark-ups, and handling fees.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the handling fees comprise one or more of material and tooling storage and transportation fees.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein each amendment comprises one or more of:

labor terms for each of the maintenance tasks grouped in the amendment;

additional terms related to non-labor based services for the maintenance tasks in the amendment; and

one or more contractual clauses governing performance of the amendment.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a revenue estimate for the bill of work based on the electronic contract.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating the revenue estimate comprises:

determining labor hours required per unit time;

determining skill specific labor hours required per unit time by skill level required;

analyzing any non-labor based services included in the electronic contract; and

calculating the revenue estimate, which estimate comprises at least the sum of total labor fees and total non-labor fees.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising calculating an estimated profit margin for the bill of work that is approximately equal to the sum of total labor fees and total non-labor fees minus the sum of total labor costs and total non-labor costs.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising approving the electronic contract based, at least in part, on the estimated profit margin.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein approving the electronic contract comprises receiving one or more electronic signatures.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing one or more MRO resources to increase utilization on the bill of work.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein analyzing one or more MRO resources comprises:

comparing available labor hours to labor hours required for the bill of work by skill level required; and

comparing available facility resources to facility resources required for the bill of work.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein comparing available facility resources to facility resources required for the bill of work comprises comparing available to required maintenance locations and maintenance equipment.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein maintenance locations comprise one or more of station hangars, ramps, and gates.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving one or more electronic signatures to approve the electronic contract.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein reporting progress of execution of the bill of work comprises:

generating one or more reports based on the execution of the bill of work and the electronic contract; and

outputting the reports to an electronic device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein outputting the reports to an electronic device comprises one or more of:

displaying one or more of the reports on a monitor;

exporting one or more of the reports to a computer readable medium in one or more data formats; and

printing one or more of the reports.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the reports comprise one or more performance metrics organized by one or more of station, aircraft, bill of work, and maintenance task.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising interfacing with an external production control system configured to electronically manage execution of the bill of work.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein processing changes to the electronic contract necessitated by the execution of the bill of work comprises:

editing the electronic contract based on the execution of the bill of work; and

approving the changes to the electronic contract.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising approving completion of one or more of the tasks in the bill of work and compliance with one or more of the terms in the electronic contract.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising managing materials and tooling required for the execution of the bill of work.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein managing materials required for the execution of the bill of work comprises one or more of:

managing an inventory of materials;

ordering materials, as necessary, for the execution of the bill of work;

associating one or more of the materials with one or more of the maintenance tasks in the bill of work; and

tracking a location and a utilization of one or more of the materials during the execution of the bill of work.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein managing tooling required for the execution of the bill of work comprises one or more of:

managing an inventory of tools;

searching an electronic repository for tools necessary for the execution of the bill of work;

ordering tools, as necessary, for the execution of the bill of work;

associating one or more tools with one or more of the maintenance tasks in the bill of work;

determining a repair status of one or more of the tools; and

tracking a location and a utilization of one or more of the tools during the execution of the bill of work.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein managing materials and tooling required for the execution of the bill of work comprises interfacing with one or more external supply chain management systems configured to manage material and tooling orders, inventory, repairs, and costs.

28. The method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing the execution of the bill of work to produce one or more performance metrics.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the performance metrics comprise one or more of available labor hours versus labor hours used on the bill of work, estimated revenue versus actual revenue, estimated profit margin versus actual profit margin, percent utilization of available MRO facilities, percent utilization of available materials, percent utilization of available tooling, and estimated completion time versus actual completion time for one or more of the maintenance tasks in the bill of work.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein generating one or more invoices based on the electronic contract and the bill of work comprises exchanging billing and invoicing information with an external electronic billing system.

31. An electronic system for managing maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of an aircraft, the system comprising:

a contract management component configured to generate and approve, edit, and archive an electronic contract based on a bill of work for an aircraft maintenance check;

a customer management component configured to generate and output one or more reports based on execution of the bill of work, and process changes to the electronic contract necessitated by the execution of the bill of work; and

a billing and invoicing component configured to automatically generate one or more invoices based on the electronic contract and exchange billing and invoicing information with an external billing system.

32. The system of claim 31 further comprising a financial planning component configured to generate one or more revenue estimates and calculate one or more estimated profit margins for executing the bill of work.

33. The system of claim 31 further comprising a capacity planning component configured to determine availability of one or more MRO resources required for executing the bill of work and to analyze all MRO resources to increase utilization on one or more bills of work.

34. The system of claim 31 further comprising a material and tooling management component configured to manage inventor and ordering of tools and materials required for executing the bill of work and to track the tools and materials during execution of the bill of work.

35. The system of claim 31 further comprising a bill of work analysis component configured to analyze the execution of the bill of work to produce one or more performance metrics for use in improving the execution of the bill of work or execution of one or more other bills of work.