Aircraft Parts – "Back to Birth" What does it mean - Is it required? - Is it possible?

In January 2023, we launched a series of articles on LinkedIn to create awareness of the issues that have made the phrase “back to birth” - a commonly used phrase, but hard to imagine.?Today there are over 100 million aircraft parts both “on wing” and “off-wing” in various states and conditions.?When these parts “move” through the supply chain, the highly labor intensive “forensics” process begins.?Very skilled technicians applying their knowledge.

Despite all this heroic work by supply chain professionals and aircraft technicians, there is no where to “record” what we do and what we learn, and we repeat this investigatory work time and again each time we see the part.?We’ll talk more about these supply chain and mechanic heroes later, but let’s get back to the topic at hand.?

The Issue - Let’s restate it.?Aircraft part provenance and the accurate, documented history of an aircraft part is a safety issue.?If things don’t match, the part goes into quarantine.?It could be there for a short time, an extended time or worse, scrapped.?There are ways to repair, overhaul and test the part to get it back in service.?But of course, this could be a waste of time and money. GE Aviation proved long ago that documented part status improves the realized value of an asset by up to 40%.?

The Challenge – Our average fleets have been flying for 15 years now.?That’s 24,000 aircraft, 50,000 engine and landing systems, 24,000 APU’s and about 3,500 serialized parts per plane.?Over 15 years, we have likely removed and installed 1,950 parts on that plane. So, when we open that plane in preparation for a transition event, what do we know and what don’t we know”?

• Which parts are original parts, installed at assembly?
• Which parts are installed on the plane as “new spares”?
• Which parts are repaired / overhauled with minimal history?
• Which parts on the plane are PMA??Some leases require replacement.
• What is the plane, its engines, landing systems and part collection worth?

So, for 15 years while these planes were being maintained, the data was collected.??For the most part, it’s stored in warehouses in bankers’ boxes.?Like Indiana Jones’ treasures.

The Deployment Roadmap – Capturing “back-to-birth” on a 15-year aircraft can be challenging and time consuming.?It is not required.?But one source noted that the residual value of the parts on a plane in decommissioning could be worth 50% less than USM market prices without adequate and verified documentation. ??Here’s a quote from an airline blog published 14 years ago!?Not much has changed since then.

“I am dealing with aircraft maintenance records all day, every day. It is usually a major pain to get them even when you have the contractual right to have access. Certain airlines are better than others but usually you need to have a good relationship with the records people and hope they have a system that is easy for them to pull what you need.?The best I have seen is when leasing companies or technical consulting firms have the records for certain aircraft available on their websites. However, the access is password controlled and is intended for prospective buyers or operators of that aircraft or engine. Typically, you must travel to the location where the records are and start sifting through 20 to 100 bankers’ boxes, hoping they are organized in a logical way. I can't image how any public website would have this, but what a dream if it did exist!

To get a handle on this issue, we break it down into three lifecycles of the aircraft.

• New Aircraft and Platforms – For these aircraft, we get this fixed right out of the gate.?New planes assembled, delivered, and inducted into the 1st operator’s fleet.?From that day forward, we track, validate, and share (with permissions) the part provenance and repair history of the parts and assets.
• Aircraft in Transition – For these aircraft, the parts analysis work is happening “now”.?Capturing the data during the event allows for accessing the SkyThread validation routines on data you uncover and perpetuates the information for future part removals on that aircraft and for future events.
• Aircraft Mid Life – During the normal operating cycle of the aircraft, we need to catch the plane “as is” and work forward and backward from there.?We capture the configuration of the plane “today” and begin tracking future parts removals and installs. SkyThread begins the tedious process of re-building the parts history.

Vision and Values - After discussing the “vision” of back-to-birth, the discussions will quicky move to “value”.?We need to maintain a simplified message about what we’re doing to fully engage each ecosystem and the actors within the ecosystem.

Airframers – Follow their aircraft for life.?We call it “Data for the Life of the Aircraft”.?We create a sharable Digital Twin of the serial numbers on the aircraft for full visibility up and downstream from the aircraft delivery.?Data to the Tier 1 suppliers for visibility of the 1st removal of parts from the aircraft and to the airline for real time configuration tracking of the asset for future events – maintenance, sale, return on lease and eventually decommissioning.?“This Plane is on the Chain”.?

Tier 1 OEM – Follow the aircraft part for life.?This is also “Data for the Life of the Aircraft”.?We create the digital birth record of the aircraft part and follow it through assembly onto the aircraft or into the aftermarket. ?This begins the Digital Thread for the part.?Once established, we will have visibility to the 1st removal of that part, its time on wing (or in inventory) and the reason codes for removals.?This information will support reliability analysis of the part (on that tail) and support spares planning.?The solution will significantly reduce the forensics labor on parts analysis at removal and factually handle penalty claims.

Airlines – This Plane is on the Chain – Today, the configuration tracking of the serial numbers along with hours & cycles (H&C) by serial number is difficult to maintain.?This is handled through the legacy MRO systems at the airlines such as Trax, Maintenix, Sceptre, and EmpowerMx.?The outcomes of this complex data flow are – ?

• Spares planning by platform and tail are compromised
• Configuration and H&C data for aircraft coming into the hangar for MRO
• Configuration and H&C data for aircraft going through a transition (sale / lease return)
• Configuration and part history data for aircraft moving into aircraft decommissioning.

The availability of parts for aircraft repairs is critical to maintaining fleet readiness and managing the following -

• Reduction of AOG through parts availability on overnight checks
• Reduction of TAT on AOG when occurred.
• Reduction of TAT on parts for management of planned maintenance
• Improved inventory management with Tier 1 on pooling programs

We’ve assessed the value to be earned by the airline / operators through engagement with SkyThread for Parts.?For a fleet of 100 aircraft, we uncover a value of $22 million annually.?

• Reduction of MRO costs and TAT (1 day in the hangar is $50,000)
• Reduction of AOG and TAT (1 day of AOG is $90,000) - availability
• Rationalization and optimization of inventory – carry cost is 25%
• Reduction of contractual penalties (TAT, reliability, and warranty)
• Residual value on assets over life and at transition
• Eliminate SUP, part quarantine and counterfeits.

MRO – These companies represent the “backbone” of the aircraft and part worthiness status and documentation.?We’re now living with 20-25 years of archaic data records, much of it in paper residing in bankers’ boxes in cold storage.?We have found a firm that is able to bring that data “back from the dead”, scan it and build the framework for a part history.?But the data remains unvalidated and with gaps.?SkyThread will search for the original computer records behind the part activity, which resides in the ERP system of the parts makers and the MRO systems of the airlines.?Much of that data is likely “archived” in quarantined databases within the enterprises.?We will bring that data back to life.

Going forward, SkyThread will receive the removal, assessment, repair, installation data for all parts “on wing” today.?We will receive the status, condition, and location of all parts in storage or in repair that are waiting for their next ride.?We’re estimating that 3.2 million parts are removed from commercial aircraft annually.?The benefits visible within this channel include:

• Capture and share part removal data for better reliability analysis
• Find the right part – status, condition, history, location, and hours / cycles.
• Receive the part into MRO with validated history and documentation (no quarantine).
• Send parts out with validated history and documentation to avoid forensics work
• Capture parts scrapped (BER) for avoidance of unapproved parts in USM

Distributors – There are multiple levels of engagement in the industry for the 40 million “off wing” aircraft parts.?Many distributors are actually “holding the inventory” while others have connectivity to those holding the inventory and represent a channel to market.?The Tier 1-part makers hold distributor agreements for their “new spares” and refurbished equipment to the aircraft aftermarket.?SkyThread will record status, condition, history, location, and hours / cycles for all parts within the distributor environment.?This includes the dedicated Material Services divisions within Tier 1 OEM, airframers, engine companies, landing systems, APU producers, airlines, and MRO.??Benefits all center around the following:

• Provenance of the part – where is the part and where has it been?
• History of the part – flight cycles and hours and repair history, going back to birth
• SkyThread validation of selected information improves the marketability of parts
• SkyThread validation reduces the incidence of quarantine of parts on arrival

Value Stream Mapping – Each company in the value chain will have its own “benefits” story.?Industry average benefits and savings achieved by other companies will not be 100% reflective of their experience.?The categories of benefits are simple.?

• Aircraft MRO cost $3.0 million per year - Reduction target of 10%
• Aircraft recovery costs in AOG and IROPS – above and below the wing
• Aircraft and Parts TAT - 25 % in hangar and component repair
• Aircraft / part in service availability – putting one more plane in the air
• Lower inventory for higher service levels – 30% at 25% carrying costs
• Residual value of assets – 40% as an example, for engines
• Contractual penalties and forensics labor – 50% elimination of research
• Asset and plane transitions – 50% reduction in transition time and cost
• Elimination of “false” parts – quarantine, counterfeits, unapproved parts

SkyThread for Parts Events Scope – We capture the part at birth and follow it for the rest of its life.?The data we need is quite simple.?We recognize the sensitivity of the data and we’re capturing NO confidential information about the company (pricing), just about the part, asset, or plane. The table below recasts the 13 “blocks” of an aircraft part / plane over these 3 stages of life of the assets.

Here are the links to remaining articles in our series – Change management will be the biggest barrier to rapid deployment of these solutions and the data sharing network.?This is overcome through marketing, training & education, and early adopters generating benefits through this environment. To support industry awareness, we’ve been running this series of articles around the business issues we’re working to overcome and our solutions to address those challenges. ?

Independent Data Consortium for Aviation (IDCA)

B787 Aircraft Parts Heading to Blockchain

Aircraft Parts – Authentication, Validation, Triangulation and Provenance

Aviation Industry Blockchain is Here

Welcome to MRO Americas 2023

SkyThread for Parts

This Plane is on the Chain

This Part is on the Chain

Where are my Aircraft Parts?

Aircraft Decommissioning

Improving Aviation Sustainability

Aircraft on Ground (AOG)

U.S. Air Force Leads the Way with Blockchain

Global Parts Registry - It's Time

Clear Skies Ahead

Keeping Planes Flying

Aircraft Parts Lifecycles

SkyThread - 2023 Blog

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