A methodology for development of aircraft base maintenance just in time tool and material support

This paper presents a methodology for the development of just in time tool and material support during aircraft base maintenance. Using lean value stream mapping (VSM), lead time has been measured. VSM is used to investigate processes to identify improvement opportunities lying in just in time support during aircraft base maintenance and provide optimum value to the customer through a complete value creation process with minimum waste in design (concept to customer), build (order to delivery), sustain (in-use through life cycle to service). In the aircraft base maintenance, circumstances often force tool and material support to deliver late causing late maintenance exit. For example, technicians move away from their work area and start to search tool and material. Most companies assign spiderman, but technicians usually expect supervisors to take care of their own working arrangements. Chances are high that most supervisors will need to know how to support tool and material at some time in base maintenance. Results show that stimulus agreement with theoretical predictions and significant improvement over previous efforts. The work presented here has profound implications for the future studies of tool and material support during aircraft base maintenance.