The Institute of Aerospace Technologies at the University of Malta has once again partnered up with the local aviation industry to collaborate on a new EUR 200,000 research project called eMRO (Electronic Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul).
Nowadays, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) processes are highly integrated at the back end, with back offices working closely with stakeholders such as the customer, manufacturers and airworthiness organisations to plan the MRO jobs that need to be implemented by aircraft technicians on the job floor. These jobs may be complex to be carried out, involving several thousands of person hours.
Due to the nature of the business, all tasks are defined by job cards (which relate to specific manuals and repair procedures and require the use of specific replacement parts and tools) and all the work that is performed needs to be documented and tracked for traceability purposes. This is currently done throughout the industry via a paper-heavy system which renders it inefficient from a time and motion perspective on the shop floor.
eMRO will develop the basis of an electronic system that automatically generates a set of electronic job cards for the aircraft technician, provides electronic linkage to relevant documentation, listing of spares and tools needed, electronic tagging of the parts and tools used and electronic sign-off on a hand-held device that the aircraft technician can use in a convenient manner. This will contribute significantly towards the reduction of the dependency on paper of the MRO sector vis-à-vis the execution of tasks and the documentation of activities. In this way, the system will contribute to the streamlining and reduction of person hours related to an MRO task and thus to the reduction of the cost of maintenance and air travel in general.
eMRO is being funded through the MCST FUSION R&I Technology Development Programme and is a joint collaboration between the University of Malta, SR Technics Malta Ltd, 6PM Ltd and QuAero Ltd.
Further information on the research activities of the Institute of Aerospace Technologies is available on the Institute website.