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Embraer Executive Jets is investing in technology to improve parts ordering and availability.
What do MRO Holdings and Embraer Executive Jets have in common?
While several potential answers could be correct, one thing jumps out. Both seem to have reached operational milestones, based on recent executive interviews.
In this month’s MRO Chat (see page MRO26), Greg Colgan, MRO Holdings’ CEO, talks frankly about the scramble required to perform maintenance in the last few years as airlines ramped up coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Colgan, a person recognized for systematically eking out efficiencies, strikes me as someone who probably does not like to scramble.
Colgan says MRO Holdings last year focused on “regaining our balance and really digging into the [airframe maintenance] checks” to find and solve the reoccurring problems that could throw a maintenance plan off schedule. In other words, trying to figure out things that would make the company scramble.
This year, as it targets at least 10 million airframe maintenance labor hours, MRO Holdings is very focused on throughput. Particularly, the MRO is focusing on people and systems: Does its staff have what they need to do the job effectively and on time, and are they happy?
Details matter. The MRO manages its productivity per square meter: “We forecast our labor by task card, by skill set, by location, by line 12 months out,” Colgan says.
Managing the details also has a financial impact. “Investing $1 into throughput right now almost flows straight to the bottom line,” Colgan says.
Embraer Executive Jets also has been very busy the past few years as its aircraft sales across all segments, deliveries and backlog have grown. Like the rest of the industry, its service organization has faced capacity constraint and supply chain challenges.
However, similar to MRO Holdings, “it’s no longer a recovery story. It’s really a story of execution,” says Marsha Woelber, vice president of customer support and aftermarket sales for Embraer.
“As we say, it’s harvest season. It’s really a time to execute and make sure that we are there to support our customers to get in the backlog that we have,” she says.
Like MRO Holdings, Embraer also is using technology to help throughput and shorten turnaround times. For instance, to improve parts ordering and availability, it “put a lot of investment in technology to improve our planning, communication with our suppliers” and communication with customers to make the whole process more seamless.
It also introduced a troubleshooting app to quicken the process.
“So all these things equal more visibility into the MRO and more transparency with the customers,” Woelber says.
—Lee Ann Shay
