Companies must proactively protect themselves from complex and elaborate international laws and regulations in the heavily regulated aviation industry. Take the recent discovery of over 100 falsified documentations supplied by AOG Technics across global aviation. Given the inefficiency of paper-based systems, digital supply chain traceability systems are no longer a nice-to-have. They’re a necessity.
However, the aviation industry has slowly transitioned from paper-based records for aircraft maintenance and airworthiness proof. With immutable and verifiable digital records of every component in its supply chain, a company can protect itself from legal liabilities such as lawsuits and regulatory fines.
We explore how a digital supply chain that uses relevant technology can help improve traceability and eliminate inaccuracies. More importantly, it can prevent the infiltration of fraudulent parts and documentation in the aviation industry. We also offer actionable strategies and tips to transition to a digital supply chain model successfully.
Moving the Industry Away From Paper Trail
The shift from paper-based to digital documentation processes in aviation maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operations is critical to improving efficiency, reducing errors, and enhancing transparency. It significantly saves labor hours, reduces expenses, and improves sustainability. Digital processes also enable data-driven insights, which are essential for effective decision-making.
The archaic physical paperwork models in the aviation sector create substantial challenges and limitations. For instance:
Time-Consuming
Paper documents are cumbersome and time-consuming, especially for large maintenance operations. Technicians must juggle job cards, manuals, guides, and other physical records as they search for information and complete administrative tasks. This wastes valuable time.
Digitizing this content onto tablets and other mobile devices allows technicians to access all the necessary information at the workbench, streamlines workflows, and increases productivity.
Prone to Error
Paper-based systems are prone to errors, lost documents, and version control issues. Digital maintenance records and electronic sign-offs and approvals help eliminate these problems, improving the accuracy and reliability of documentation.
Airlines that have switched to tablet-based systems have reported dramatic reductions in short delays and the need for manual paperwork reviews.
Limited Insights
Paper trails make it challenging to gain real-time visibility into maintenance activities and status. Digital documentation enables live tracking, analytics, and remote collaboration. Improved transparency also benefits customers, who can monitor progress and approvals remotely rather than physically present.
Financial and Environmental Costs
It’s more than paper, printing, document shipping, and storage costs. Manual, paper-based processes also require extensive administration and review.
Maintaining paper documentation for modern business aircraft costs the industry an estimated $125 million annually or $5,000 per aircraft. This is due to several factors, such as missing information, document shipping and storage fees, manual record review costs, and document administration. Managing the extra workload of paper documentation requires more than 1,100 full-time employees annually.
The benefits of transitioning to a digital supply chain model are a no-brainer. With the paper's constraints gone, aviation MRO organizations can boost efficiency, productivity, cost-effectiveness, quality, and customer satisfaction. Most importantly, improved accuracy and traceability establish effective legal safeguards.
Building a Digital Supply Chain
At the core of a digital supply chain is the integration of disparate systems and data sources to provide end-to-end visibility. This enables airlines, MRO providers, and suppliers to access real-time information on parts availability, order status, and maintenance activities. Automation can then streamline processes like ordering, shipping, and inventory management.
A digital supply chain must incorporate robust security and traceability measures. Using technologies using technology to digitally automate a back-to-birth record will help ensure a back-to-birth record of each component to ensure authenticity and compliance. This is especially crucial since safety is paramount, and counterfeit parts pose serious risks.
The industry can realize significant benefits by digitizing the supply chain. Data analytics-based predictive maintenance reduces downtime. Automated workflows and better collaboration also improve operational efficiency.
Ultimately, a digital supply chain empowers the aviation industry to be more agile, cost-effective, and responsive. These are all critical capabilities in an increasingly competitive global market.
Resolving Challenges Toward a Digital Supply Chain
While the benefits of a digital supply chain are clear, the path to implementation is complex. It requires coordination across a fragmented ecosystem of airlines, MRO providers, distributors, and manufacturers.
Protecting Data Privacy
Protecting proprietary information is a significant challenge in building a digital supply chain for the aviation industry. The aviation ecosystem is highly complex and involves numerous players who must share sensitive data and intellectual property to enable efficient operations and maintenance.
A key concern is safeguarding trade secrets, technical specifications, and other proprietary information that gives companies a competitive edge. For instance, manufacturers may hesitate to fully integrate their systems and share data if it risks exposing valuable intellectual property. Similarly, airlines and MRO providers guard operational data and performance metrics that could provide insights into their business strategies.
Compounding this challenge is the need for cross-organizational collaboration and information exchange to achieve the benefits of a digital supply chain. Strict data access controls and robust cybersecurity measures are essential to build trust and facilitate the secure sharing of data.
Change Management
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Creating New Standards
Establishing common standards and protocols is a significant challenge in creating a digital supply chain for the aviation industry. A complex and diverse array of stakeholders have their legacy systems, data formats, and operational processes. Integrating these different elements into a cohesive digital infrastructure requires overcoming several vital hurdles:
- Fragmentation and Inertia: The aviation industry has evolved over decades with little coordination. This has led to a proliferation of proprietary standards and siloed data sources. Convincing these entrenched players to adopt new, shared standards can be arduous. It often requires significant changes to existing systems and workflows.
- Technical Complexity: Developing robust, industry-wide standards that account for the nuances of aviation maintenance, logistics, and compliance is highly technical work. Achieving consensus on data models, APIs, and security protocols requires deep domain expertise and cross-functional collaboration.
- Governance and Oversight: Maintaining and evolving standards over time necessitates a governance framework with clear ownership, decision-making processes, and enforcement mechanisms. This is incredibly challenging in an industry as large and diverse as aviation.
Driving widespread adoption remains an ongoing struggle that requires a combination of technical, organizational, and regulatory strategies.
Looking at Digital Supply Chain Tech
Operators must also implement technology to build a cohesive digital supply chain. But doing this across the diverse aviation sector is another significant obstacle. The process of identifying common platforms, data standards, and integration protocols that can seamlessly connect the patchwork of legacy systems and proprietary software is complex and resource-intensive.
What’s more, the aviation industry’s stringent regulatory requirements and emphasis on safety and security introduce additional technological hurdles around data authentication, access controls, and compliance.
However, effective solutions are making significant headway in addressing these difficulties. Innovations like ProvenAir’s digital back-to-birth solution bridge these gaps by adding value to existing data and accelerating new data operations. This allows operators to reap the benefits of digitization where they are.
The solution automatically identifies operational breaks and missing paperwork and instantly identifies data errors from thousands of related documents. While data remains confidential, operators can access it when and where relevant and create dynamic reports such as MTS and LLP sheets, complete records packets, and exceptions.
Collaboration Toward Digitizing Supply Chains
The aviation industry uses various collaborative initiatives and standard-setting bodies to establish a robust foundation for digital supply chain technologies. For instance, the Internet and APIs enable excellent connectivity and data exchange between various systems.
Meanwhile, independent data consortia and industry associations like the Air Transportation Association (ATA), the International Air Transportation Association (IATA), and SAE International are crucial in developing standards and best practices. This includes areas like parts traceability, maintenance documentation, and cybersecurity.
By aligning on these foundational elements, the aviation sector can more effectively identify and implement the right technologies to digitize their supply chains. In doing so, they can overcome the industry’s historical fragmentation.
The Impact of OEM on Supply Chain Digitization
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) play a critical role in the aviation supply chain, but their participation and responsibilities aren’t always clearly defined.
As the original producers of aircraft parts and components, OEMs are the primary documentation and traceability information source. They provide the initial maintenance records, part histories, and airworthiness certifications essential to ensuring safety and compliance throughout an asset’s lifecycle.
However, OEMs aren’t directly accountable for maintaining this traceability as parts move through the complex network of distributors, repair stations, and end users. Regulations like FAA AC 20-154 and ISO/AS 9100D require receiving organizations to verify documentation and provenance rather than requiring OEMs to oversee the entire supply chain.
Some OEMs do offer value-added services, such as the sale of reconditioned parts or the facilitation of part exchanges. But these are often optional, commercial offerings rather than mandated responsibilities. The lack of standardized traceability requirements across the industry means OEMs may have varying levels of involvement in supply chain digitization initiatives.
Ultimately, while OEMs are crucial to the foundation of the aviation supply chain, the current regulatory environment limits their role in ensuring comprehensive traceability and digital transformation. Greater alignment and accountability across the ecosystem will be necessary to harness supply chain digitization's benefits fully.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) holds significant potential to enhance the future aviation digital supply chain. AI can drive greater efficiency, visibility, and predictability across various supply chain functions through advanced analytics and machine learning.
In inventory management, AI-powered demand forecasting can help airlines and MRO providers optimize stocking levels and reduce costly stockouts or excess inventory. Similarly, AI can automate the identification of wear patterns and predict when parts will require maintenance or replacement. This enables proactive, condition-based maintenance.
Beyond operational improvements, AI also has the potential to strengthen digital supply chain security and traceability. AI systems can analyze maintenance records and documentation through anomaly detection and natural language processing. They can then flag suspicious transactions or identify counterfeit parts.
As the aviation industry continues its digital transformation, the integration of AI will unlock the full benefits of a connected, data-driven supply chain. By augmenting human decision-making with intelligent automation, AI can help the industry navigate the complexities of global logistics and ensure the highest levels of safety.
Embracing the Digital Future of Aviation Supply Chains
Maintaining accurate records for millions of aircraft parts, some of which may be 10-15 years old, is incredibly challenging. This makes it easy to forge airworthiness certificates, falsely claiming a part is new when it’s not. Currently, there’s no effective defense against this type of fraud.
Clearly, the aviation industry needs to digitize its supply chain and resolve false documentation practices. But doing so will require a collective effort among industry stakeholders.
ProvenAir’s digital solution helps operators avoid costly problems by providing accurate back-to-birth traceability. The solution automatically organizes all documentation for each aircraft part, eliminating the need to track revisions or manage folders manually. It also allows users from airlines, lessors, suppliers, and MROs to investigate part relationships and events easily.
Our system employs proprietary algorithms and AI to analyze maintenance records and interpret LLP usage. It can generate exception reports and trace timelines for landing gears, engines, and APUs.
Improving record keeping and driving more value from your data can save you significant hours and dollars. Contact us to discuss a digital transition for your operation today.