Download This Article (PDF - 288 KB)| The Boeing Maintenance Performance Toolbox is an online system that provides operators with up-to-date fleet maintenance information using intelligent documents and visual navigation methods. The Toolbox is designed to improve the performance of technical operations staff responsible for airplane system troubleshooting, structural repair record management, parts management, task card management, content authoring, and training. The Toolbox is available through subscription to a hosted service delivered via the Web portal MyBoeingFleet.com, and is built on an industry-standard J2EE architecture to ensure maximum security, availability, reliability, and scalability. |
by Rex Douglas, Product Manager, |
Operators today have the substantial task of creating, managing, distributing, and accessing vast amounts of maintenance information. This task is complicated by the composition of today’s fleets, which often comprise both purchased and leased airplanes. The Boeing Maintenance Performance Toolbox uses two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) graphical user interfaces, combined with advanced data mining and search capabilities, to increase operators’ efficiency and effectiveness in locating and accessing relevant maintenance information. It also allows operators to deploy maintenance performance solutions that meet their specific needs at lower cost to their in-house maintenance organization or external service providers.
For example, Maintenance Performance Toolbox facilitates the:
- Organized documentation of structural damage and repair.
- Communication of structural damage and repair situations with external service providers and Boeing.
- Reuse of repair information for similar structural incidents.
- Identification of systemic structural issues and problems within a fleet.
- Transfer of structural incident information during lease transfers.
IMPROVING MAINTENANCE PERFORMANCE
Even with electronic data and document management systems, the time required to research and document maintenance information is a significant percentage of maintenance work. Boeing discovered that maintenance personnel spend as much as 30 to 40 percent of their time researching and documenting information (see fig. 1).
MANAGING MAINTENANCE INFORMATION
Figure 1
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Boeing research shows that maintenance personnel spend about 30 to 40 percent of their time researching and documenting maintenance activities.
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Because CD-ROMs and document management systems are unable to provide maintenance information in a format that optimizes maintenance performance for operators, Boeing’s goal in developing the Maintenance Performance Toolbox was to increase efficiencies and help operators become more effective. The Toolbox:
- Uses 2D schematics of airplane systems as “graphical” tables of content that enable point-and-click access to all information related to a specific airplane location or component.
- Uses advanced data-mining techniques and search capabilities to ensure that all relevant information (e.g., fault code lookup, repair history, maintenance procedures, part numbers, maintenance tasks) is part of the troubleshooting process.
- Automates the workflow required to review and approve documentation revisions and changes, while providing real-time editing tools that allow maintenance personnel to create and add their own documentation and notes.
- Integrates on-demand training within the maintenance information so it is available for reference and review where and when it is needed.
- Delivers capabilities as a managed, hosted service — securely accessible globally — and eliminates the costs associated with information technology (IT) infrastructure and data distribution.
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