Application of Lean principles and software solutions for maintenance records in continuing airworthiness management organisations

This paper discusses how the processes of Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisations can be made more efficient by applying Lean principles and digital solutions, to obtain costs savings and improved compliance standards. Lean management is the process of eliminating waste by maximising value through balancing workloads and cutting out inefficient processes. Though Lean was initially applied to manufacturing production lines, an opportunity exists to apply the principles of Lean in airworthiness management. One such aspect of airworthiness management is the processing of records which is an essential part of safety and compliance. Software solutions designed with Lean philosophy and focus on airworthiness management processes can provide benefits in managing the flow of records and extracting actionable information from them for cost reduction and improving safety. Further value can be extracted by applying additional software solutions that will lay a strong foundation for machine learning and predictive analytics – taking aircraft maintenance from a reactive model towards a proactive model.