Designing a bottom-up Remanufacturing Process Control and Maturity Model for Airline MRO: A case study at KLM E&M

In this day and age sustainability is becoming increasingly important. Even though the airline business is not the first thing which comes to mind when regarding sustainability there are huge efforts in play to extend the life of airplanes and its corresponding components. This is done via remanufacturing. Remanufacturing can here be defined as:...

Simulating order fulfillment for aircraft line replaceable unit strategy: A case study at KLM component services

Aircraft LRU (Line Replaceable Unit) MROs (Maintenance, Repair Organization) struggle to meet service levels. To stay competitive, literature describes two strategies; increasing contracted fleet size and not reaching projected repair turn around times. Besides these two strategies, literature does not describe the use of triple echelon order...

Humidity Effects on Turbofan Performance: in a MRO context

Engine performance diagnostics play a major role in keeping track of gas turbine condition and performance and identification of possible errors or faults. One of the key performance indicators used in engine performance diagnostics is the Hot Day Exhaust Gas Temperature Margin (EGTM). Ambient humidity affects the EGTM, however humidity is not...

Aligning logistics with MRO to improve spare parts availability: A case study at KLM Engineering & Maintenance

Aircraft component maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) outsourcing is a rather new phenomenon. Nowadays, component support solutions that are flexible with predictable cost are pursued. In other words, the time to restore and cost of MRO are aimed to be minimised. This research project is collaboration with one of the worlds leaders in...

An Integrated Planning Approach: Maintenance Task Scheduling Optimization

Aircraft base maintenance consists of hundreds of tasks including preventive, corrective and modification tasks which have to be scheduled to a few check moments per year. The allocation of tasks to checks represents a complex scheduling problem due to the constraints involved. A mixed integer linear programming model was developed to optimize...

Modelling business process redesign strategies for improved reverse logistics in an aircraft component supply chain: A case study at KLM Engineering & Maintenance Component Services

Within aircraft component MRO industry, companies providing availability contracts are challenged by inherently unpredictable demand patterns and complex time crucial operations. Most prevailing academic literature within the MRO industry has focused on availability models or operations management in repair shops in the past. This study focuses...

Design of an Advanced Task Planning Model for Aircraft Heavy Maintenance: A case study at KLM Engineering & Maintenance Airframe Services

Due to complex nature of aircraft heavy maintenance checks, achieving process stability is difficult. Literature suggests that this stability can be obtained by separating routine and non-routine work, and focusing on quick identification of non-routine tasks by completing inspection tasks early in the check. Current task planning methods show...

Lowering the Turnaround time for Aircraft component MRO services: A case study at KLM Engineering & Maintenance

In this thesis a framework is built to find flow improvement measures to lower the turnaround time for aircraft component MRO processes. This framework is tested in a case study at KLM E&M. The main research question that is answered in this research is: What flow improvement measures can be used to lower the turnaround time of components in...

Aircraft Engine Combustor Maintenance: A model to measure MRO turnaround time

This thesis involves a case-study of aircraft engine combustor maintenance at KLM E&M, which has been used as a basis to develop a discrete event simulation model that allows TAT to be measured, and the effects of changes to the main process value drivers to be successfully tested. The main research question this research sought to answer is:...

Documate: The development of a Mobile Task Support System to enhance the mechanics task-performance in power plants.

Documate is a mobile application that empowers mechanics in power plants to have relevant documentation at their disposal at any time. They can quickly search, fast view and gather documentation that helps them in their current activity. By using Documate, mechanics, contractors and maintenance coordinators can work more efficiently and safely,...

Improving inventory management and material replenishment at KLM Engine Services

This research focuses on cost reduction in the logistical system of the Engine Shop of the KLM. This logistical system is complex of nature and involves very high material costs. The research emphasises on inventory cost reductions. A comprehensive system analysis has been performed that gives insights in the logistical processes of the Engine...