Service you can rely on

If you are buying a product with a long life-cycle, such as a plane, maintenance and repair issues are critical. Who better to look after the aircraft than the people who built it.

‘Power by the Hour’ contracts, where the customer pays for the time that a product is in service, are reshaping aerospace and defence contracts under the tag of Performance-based Logistics (PBL). This trend is likely to have a growing impact in other areas of complex, long-life equipment.

PBL makes strong commercial sense from the manufacturer’s perspective, as research shows that up to 70% of a customer’s through-life costs are spent on services. Accenture determined in a study of the US auto-sector that support and maintenance services can generate “up to seven times as much profit as do sales of original products over the lifetime of products use.”

The message has not been lost on the Resource Group, a leading Siemens PLM Software partner which is focused on the benefits of using PLM for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) for through-life support of the aerospace sector and other complex products.

“The lifecycle of an aircraft is upwards of 30 years. Though a new aircraft may cost a significant sum, most of the money is spent later on. Typically, once the aero-engines are sold to the airlines, they become responsible for MRO and subsequently outsource to maintenance organisations. With ‘Power by the Hour’ contracts, the OEMs are forwardly integrating into the supply chain, by extending their involvement in the product lifecycle. PLM helps facilitate this process for long lifecycle products,” says PLM services manager Colin Rudd.

PLM can help product manufacturers provide through-life support by continuing to manage product knowledge of each physical build throughout its life. Faced with shrinking profit margins at the point-of-sale, OEMs can gain a further revenue stream over a longer period by offering MRO support in-house.

“PLM offers detailed knowledge about support and service, which allows the manufacturer to quote with confidence” says Rudd. This approach is well aligned with the trend towards predictive and condition-based maintenance. These trends generate more information to manage with PLM. Critical parts stay in service for longer, reducing waste and costs.

Process improvement
Typically aerospace system suppliers need to commit to very long-term support contracts under ‘Power by the Hour’, which carry high risk with difficult to predict real costs. However, “PLM presents technicians with the knowledge to hand to provide through-life support very effectively,” says Rudd.

PLM encourages collaboration with the benefit of comprehensive information and 3D model visualisation, closing the loop and feeding service experience back into new product design. In addition, PLM provides an established knowledge bank as the systems continue to operate long after service engineers and design teams have moved on.

Siemens Teamcenter software offers state-of-the-art capability for MRO and asset tracking, recording all the product configurations designed and built. Teamcenter can handle large and complex design changes with concurrent engineering and manufacture in mind, “so design changes are reflected by the way you manufacture and build new product,” says Rudd. In addition, as configuration changes are made during maintenance, Teamcenter ensures that accurate configuration information is maintained.

PLM can eliminate the guesswork in service quotation; decreases service time and costs by delivering better product knowledge to technicians, and helps improve and optimise support operations on an ongoing basis. PBL in concert with PLM ensures a good price for the customer for long service products, and gives the supplier the confidence to make a reasonable estimate of future service and support costs under ‘Power by the Hour’ contracts. Stock levels also become leaner with detailed MRO information to hand.

Better knowledge sharing improves product quality and encourages new product innovation. Nevertheless, Rudd emphasises “PLM is not just a design tool but enables through-life support.”

Source: Telegraph Supplement 14th June 2011