Benefits gained from using new maintenance concepts and international logistics standards

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1 Benefits gained from using new maintenance concepts and international logistics standards Authors: Eda YÜCEL, Güral VURAL MilSOFT Yazılım Teknolojileri A.Ş. Teknokent, ODTU Ankara / TURKEY eyucel@milsoft.com.tr mailto:gvural@milsoft.com.tr Abstract Today, the significant percentage of total life cycle cost of complex vehicles are allocated for operation and sustainment (OS) activities. Therefore, an improvement in OS activities can reduce OS costs dramatically. The production of vehicles with complex configurations and large breakdown structures in their product-trees bring about newly emerged maintenance concepts such as Prognostic Maintenance, On-condition Maintenance and Prognostic Health Management. Such concepts necessitate the use of international standards based Information Systems in planning, execution and monitoring of maintenance activities. S1000D international technical documentation preparation standard [1], which is being used especially for complex vehicles on various platforms, enables productivity and cost-efficiency in maintenance and helps to reduce malfunctions caused by human factors. Additionally, S2000M Material Management standard [2] and PLCS (Product Life Cycle Standard) [3] provide further cost-efficiency benefits in maintenance and logistics support activities. The use of these standards and newly emerged maintenance approaches are almost mandatory in maintaining and supporting new generation complex vehicles and support equipment. In this paper, new support approaches, modern maintenance management information systems supporting these approaches and the advantages gained through adoption of international standards are explained. Additionally, MilSOFT s own standards-based Integrated Logistics and Decision Support System is introduced. 1. Introduction In today s world, there are three important and correlated factors that affect maintenance activities of complex vehicles on various platforms. First, continuous innovations in technology result in smart vehicles with not only complex configurations and large product trees, but also increased cost of ownership. The analysis and researches on the ownership costs showed that operation and sustainment costs constitute nearly 70%, on the average, of the total life cycle costs of smart vehicles, whereas procurement costs constitute only 30%, on the average. Because so much of the economic impact of the maintenance activities, modern maintenance concepts, such as Prognostic Maintenance, Oncondition Maintenance and Prognostic Health Management, which are both feasible and cost-efficient, are emerged. Second, in both defense and civil industries, operational performance and reliability of the assets (vehicles and equipment) have critical importance. As a result of this importance, organizations demand for high performance and reliable vehicles from suppliers. Modern logistics models such as Performance Based Logistics (PBL) that continuously tracks the performance of procured assets and compares the realized performance with planned performance, become popular. Additionally,

2 in order to increase the operational time and reliability of their assets, organizations require to fulfill regular maintenance requirements that often requires thousands of document pages to be processed, tracked and retained for service, warranty, compliance purposes. Integrated maintenance management and decision support systems are developed to support organizations while fulfilling these requirements completely and successfully. Third, in order to comply with national regulations, each stakeholder in the supply chain of complex assets shall keep and share accurate records of configuration changes, modifications, and maintenance activities. However, as there might be a large number of stakeholders in the supply chain, the content, completeness, size, and format of the data kept and shared shall be standardizes to reduce inconsistencies. As a result, international standards, such as S1000D, S2000M, S3000L, are emerged. Based on these factors, information services and decision support systems, which can support international standards and can be integrated with asset s health monitoring systems, on-off board maintenance information systems, and diagnostic & prognostic capabilities, are key element for enhanced logistics supportability. MilSOFT offers a standards-based Integrated Maintenance Management and Decision Support System, MilTRAC, as integrated logistics support software of complex assets. MilTRAC is committed to new technologies, modern maintenance approaches, and development of state of the art software products to satisfy the customer needs. In this paper, first, we briefly explain the international logistics standards and their benefits. Then, we provide the capabilities and benefits of a standards-based maintenance management and decision support system based on MilTRAC s capabilities and the advantages that its customers experienced through its usage. 2. International Logistics Standards In order to facilitate the logistics supportability of complex assets and to increase their operational availability while providing a cost-efficient maintainability, the following international logistics standards are being used: S3000L is an international handbook for Logistic Support Analysis information exchange [4]. During Logistic Support Analysis of complex systems, the methodology and decision logic for the development of scheduled maintenance programs with focus on safety, reliability and ecology is established. The handbooks include process application guidelines and rules for information exchange and analysis procedures. S2000M is an international specification for material management of complex vehicles and equipment based on integrated data processing and electronic data interchange [2]. S2000M supports provisioning, codification, procurement planning, order administration, invoicing and repair administration. Initial Provisioning Lists, which exist in S2000M-based procurement planning data exchange scenarios, constitute a standard and complete set of material data for maintenance management information systems. S1000D is an international specification for generation, maintenance, transmission and use of Technical Documentation in electronic form using a Common Source Data Base (CSDB) for the documentation of any civil or military vehicle or equipment. S1000D supports all features of Interactive Electronic

3 Technical Publications (IETPs) and Manuals (IETMs) [1]. Data from Logistic Support Analysis procedures, material data and design data are utilized in a S1000D-based CSDB for the generation, maintenance, transmission and use of Technical Documentation. As result, IETPs & IETMs are transferred to the operation facilities. S1000D, S2000M and S3000L are all defined, developed, and published by ASD (Aerospace and Defense Industries Association of Europe). PLCS establishes structured data exchange and sharing to support complex engineering assets throughout their total life cycle, starting from conceptual design to manufacturing and in service support [4]. The OASIS (Organizations for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) PLCS technical committee is responsible for defining, developing, testing and publishing PLCS data exchange specifications (DEXs). DEXs offer a data model and work processes based on data exchange. As PLCS is a generic standard, it is used with a Reference Data Library (RDL) specific to the corresponding industry. 3. Capabilities of a Standards-based Integrated Logistics and Decision Support System, MilTRAC MilSOFT s standards-based Integrated Maintenance Management and Decision Support System, MilTRAC, provides management, scheduling, execution, and integrated logistics support related to all kinds of preventative and corrective maintenance activities of military and/or civil assets, which require extensive maintenance efforts at various maintenance levels. Through customizable modules and flexible structure, MilTRAC can be adopted to manage the maintenance activities of complex ships of different class types. As an integrated logistics and decision support system, MilTRAC solution increases the scheduled and unscheduled maintenance tasks productivity, improves the distribution of critical configuration, service and support information, speeds the release of new maintenance procedures, engineering modifications and configuration changes, and enables maintenance departments to quickly import, edit, review and approve all necessary service bulletins and engineering change notices. For servicing navy assets, MilTRAC solution helps engineers, planners, and technicians to efficiently document, plan, perform and record maintenance on ships, engines, and components with the highest level of quality and consistency. Through MilTRAC, maintenance planners and technicians reach to accurate, complete, and timely information at every phase of the maintenance process. By this way, MilTRAC reduces operating costs, accelerates maintenance activities and repairs, and improves the compliance for maintenance and engineering operations. Through its offline operation mode and synchronization capability, vehicles can continue onboard utilization of MilTRAC when a secure connection is not available. When connected to a secure network, MilTRAC can easily join the centralized system, without any loss of data produced in the disconnected mode. MilTRAC supports S1000D Technical Documentation, S2000M material management, and PLCS standards to optimize quality, efficiency and consistency of maintenance activities of complex vehicles Features and Key Benefits MilTRAC provides the following functionalities as a logistics and decision support system:

4 Maintenance Management Bill of Material Management Maintenance Engineering and Maintenance Program Management Fault Management Publications Management Maintenance Planning and Work Order Management Maintenance Execution Automatic Notifications Operation/Mission Management Material Management Part Master Management Stock Management Inventory Management Warehouse Management Purchasing and Finance Order Management Maintenance Costing Shipping Management Spare Management Personnel and Organizational Information Management Maintenance Reporting Off-line Mode Operation Workflow Management Common Functions Authorization and Authentication Reporting Importing and Exporting Maintenance-related Data License Control Security and Privacy Multilanguage Support Mobile access MilTRAC offers fleet management features for rapid and effective mission planning and execution. In this scope, MilTRAC provides the following functionality for ships, Naval Head Quarters, Logistic Centers and Shipyards: A dashboard view that reports operational and maintenance status of entire assets (Head Quarters, Naval Shipyard) Task-based monitoring of maintenance activities and their progress (Naval Shipyard, Ship) Precondition control (support tools, equipment, consumables, personnel skill level/number, capacity, etc.) for the maintenance activities (Naval Shipyard, Ship) Monitoring the ship transfer processes (Head Quarters, Naval Shipyard) Tracing the application status of publications/service bulletins and engineering changes for the assets (Head Quarters, Naval Shipyard, Ship) Gathering and sharing maintenance data among the Naval Logistic centers, Naval Shipyards, Head Quarters, and ships on-board systems. Monitoring and analyzing the maintenance costs (Head Quarters, Naval Shipyard) Life limited parts reporting (Head Quarters, Naval Shipyard, Ship) Monitoring the status of upcoming maintenance activities (Head Quarters, Naval Shipyard, Ship) Monitoring the stock levels (Head Quarters, Naval Shipyard, Ship) Resource optimization (Head Quarters, Naval Shipyard, Ship)

5 MilTRAC s core functions can be customized according to the maintenance management requirements of complex (Air, Sea and Land Platform) vehicles. Additionally, MilTRAC enables Automatic data retrieval from S1000D compliant Technical Data and/or structured data in SGML, XML, or XLS formats. In MilTRAC, configuration changes resulted from removals/installations are automatically reflected to the configuration tree of the asset. By this way, MilTRAC enables comparison between actual and template configurations. Through the suitable interfaces, MilTRAC is also capable of collecting the submarine/ship status data from the Integrated Platform Management Systems (IPMS) and presenting the information on its dashboard. Additionally, MilTRAC has Role-based access to screens and functionality, Service Oriented Architecture enabling easy integration to corporate systems, Layered Architecture (Presentation (GUI) layer, Application layer (Business Logic) and Database layer) enabling quick responsiveness to changing requirements of the user, Platform/database type independent operation capability, Remote location operations support through Web-based operation, Streamline information flow to ERP, and the other systems, Robust architecture, with failover and scalability assuring high availability. Improves MilTRAC Reduces Operational availability Mission safety Data accuracy Usability and comprehension Inventory control Situational awareness Total asset visibility Operation & sustainment cost control Resource utilization Cost per unit operation hours False removals False parts ordering False data reporting Spare part requirements Unscheduled maintenance costs Administrative costs Administrative overheads Logistics IT footprint

6 3.2. How MilTRAC Works MilTRAC is a complete product suite aimed for improving the operation, sustainment and maintenance of complex vehicles. New configurations, new maintenance requirements and new procedures can easily be included in the MilTRAC system or the existing ones can be easily revised. Therefore, as MilTRAC eliminates wasteful and repetitive processes for configuration management and maintenance program management, organizations can focus on more complex problems and achieve better results in less time. MilTRAC offers enhanced control and management of maintenance activities, automatically delivering maintenance procedures to the technical teams and technicians. Customized task cards for the technical personnel can be generated by MilTRAC. Through MilTRAC user interfaces, the technical teams and/or technicians can provide detailed information related to the activities performed (such as part replacements and consumed man-hours) while executing a task under the scope of planned or unplanned maintenance activities. The details of each executed task can be monitored, approved and/or rejected by a specified authority. Therefore, through MilTRAC, maintenance activities become more efficient and consistent, resulting in more reliable asset operations and reduced maintenance costs. Additionally, the planned and realized maintenance costs can be tracked for financial purposes. 4. Conclusion New maintenance concepts and international logistics standards aims to enhance the logistics supportability of modern assets. To adapt the emerging concepts and standards, organizations need integrated and standardsbased logistics and decision support systems. MilSOFT offers its standards-based Integrated Maintenance Management and Decision Support System, MilTRAC, to enhance logistics supportability of organizations. 5. References [1] S1000D official website, [2] S2000M official website, [3] PLCS (Product Life Cycle Support) official website, [4] S3000L official website, MilTRAC offers a strong foundation for the maintenance organization, based on a JEE web-native architecture that fits easily within any existing IT infrastructures and workflows. MilTRAC can be integrated with ERP, material management and other legacy systems of the organization.