A multi-year project to digitize its airframe heavy maintenance shop floor has yielded an ancillary benefit for Embraer’s U.S. operations—a new, efficient mechanics’ training records system.

Embraer picked EmpowerMX’s software to replace paper task cards and other documents associated with heavy maintenance checks. The process which began in 2015 is nearly complete. Non-routine documentation is already fully digital, and a proof-of-concept trial set to begin this spring will test importing routine customer task cards and other required paperwork.

As the system rolled out, Embraer saw an opportunity to revamp its on-the-job training (OJT) process.

“We had been using the system, and we were trying to figure out something to do with OJT,” Embraer MRO Commercial COO Jason Grafton told Aviation Week on the sidelines of MRO Americas. “We went to EmpowerMX and said, ‘We need something in the system. Our technicians are in here all the time.’”

Embraer worked with EmpowerMX to sketch out what it wanted. The biggest requirements: it had to be simple to use and satisfy FAA record-keeping requirements that show certified mechanics have been trained on the specific jobs they perform.

Under the EmpowerMX module, mechanics work alongside leads on a job. When the junior technician completes the job satisfactorily, the lead can digitally sign the training record that shows what was done and how long it took. The result is an instant record of what every technician has done that can be looked at cumulatively as well as down to the task or ATA chapter level.

The shift has led to several improvements, Grafton said. Since management can see the basic skill levels of each technician, mechanics are trained more quickly. Embraer can use the records to show customers that their shop-floor workers are well-versed in their specific aircraft types.

Embraer has rolled the OJT module out at both its Nashville, Tenn., and Macon, Ga., heavy-check facilities.