Prevention: The Cure For High Maintenance Costs

Delta Air Lines Inc. wants to see some real cost savings in one of its most expensive operational units. The airline spends $1.5 billion annually on maintenance, but it hopes that business-process reengineering driven by IT can cut that significantly.

At Delta, 60% of aircraft repairs are unscheduled. That's bad news because when a part on an aircraft fails, it usually results in a flight delay or a more costly fix (when a blade inside a turbine engine breaks, it can wipe out neighboring blades). So the airline is installing a suite of inventory-control, materials-management, and diagnostic systems that executives say will help it improve its preventive-maintenance capabilities.

Delta has started using diagnostic systems from SmartSignal Corp. The system captures data transmitted from telemetry software onboard new aircraft, such as the Boeing 777, and analyzes the performance of individual components. "Under given conditions, we know that engine vibration is supposed to be X; if it's something other than X, we know we need to look at that," says Walter Taylor, a managing director at Delta.

The system also will tell Delta engineers if a part is running just fine, even though standard industry timetables, which call for overhauls based on the number of hours flown, say it's time for a checkup. Using the same system, the Royal Canadian Air Force was able to safely prolong turbine replacements on the engines that power its CF-18 fighter jets from 1,500 hours to 2,800 hours. "That's a huge savings," Taylor says.

Delta also is revamping its document-management processes in an effort to move to a paperless maintenance environment. Working with General Dynamics subsidiary Creative Concepts Corp., Delta is making that data available to mechanics via PCs. The project began last year and is slated for completion next year. "It's a big process change," Taylor says. "Right now, our mechanics spend a lot of time running around getting books and manuals and directives to make sure they have the complete picture."