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a d v e r t o r i a l r e p o r tBusiness Success in Aircraft MaintenanceTotal Customer Care:The Competitive Advantageof SR TechnicsAircraft maintenance work is a complexblend of preventive, scheduledand unscheduled work. More andmore of today’s highly reliable aircraft partsare maintained “on condition”, which meansthere are no fixed time limits for maintenanceactions, but through a careful monitoring ofoperating parameters actions are triggeredwhen needed, before acute failure. In this waythe safe in service times of components andengines are maximised and the maintenancecosts minimised.The true maintenance costs of an operatorare thus not just given by the costs ofits maintenance department plus those ofpurchased services, but have to include alsothe impact of the maintenance on aircraftavailability, of passenger dissatisfaction due totechnical irregularities and other operationalconsequences of the maintenance.To establish an optimised maintenanceconcept requires both an intimate knowledgeof the operational characteristics of an airlineand extensive technical knowledge on thereliability performance of aircraft, engines andsystems. Many satisfied “total care” customersof SR Technics give proof that such an optimisationdoes not require an integrated maintenancedepartment, but can be realised in a wellmanaged customer-supplier relationship witha powerful external service provider.An important success factor in such arelationship is the definition of its optimal,comprehensive scope. As an example, a timeand material contract for engine services givesno incentive to the service provider to activelymonitor the engine performance data, toinduce preventive maintenance actions andto determine the optimal timing of removals– all factors that can significantly influence thetotal engine costs to an operator.For SR Technics “total aircraft care” doesnot mean that all services have to be providedby our staff, from our operations. It meansthat we are supporting the optimisation ofmaintenance procedures across all activities,from line through base to heavy maintenanceand that we support the build up and trainingof adequate support systems and resources– either within a customer’s organisation oras part of our own operation.SR Technics’ “total aircraft care” concept isat the same time the best approach to aircraftsafety as in parallel to the comprehensive costoptimisation the concept also includes themonitoring of all safety aspects of individualmaintenance tasks as well as their total integrationinto a safe, airworthy aircraft.While comprehensive technical supportis one of the most attractive customer valuesSR Technics provides, some features of specificproducts of SR Technics are also uniqueamong the industry: heavy maintenanceSR Technics signed a 15-year powerby-the-hourcontract with Cathay PacificAirways last year to maintain the airline’sCFM56-5C4 engines which power its fleet ofA340-300 aircaft.“SR Technics demonstrated a clear understandingof the powerplant and its overhaulprocess, including the optimum and efficientutilisation of all available resources to supportthis long-term arrangement,” said Cathay’sengineering director, Derek Cridland.In 1996, SR Technics established its regionaloffice in Hong Kong headed by Asia-Pacific executive director Erwin Stillhard.The company has worked with a number ofAsian airlines since the late 1960s. Since thenits customers have included China EasternAirlines, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines,Thai Airways International, China Airlines,Malaysia Airlines, Korean Air, Air China, ChinaNorthern and Biman Bangladesh.February 2000 | Orient Aviation | 41