AIRCRAFT AND ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS - Woodward€¦ · The AIAA Product Support Committee ... the...
1
36 AEROSPACE AMERICA/DECEMBER 2014 Beyond these working groups, recent NFF reduction efforts recognize that NFF does not restrict itself only to avionics intermittencies on aging aircraft. It can affect line replaceable units in any category and at any age in the respective lifecycle. Significant research and time is being invested on a number of NFF fronts via the collaborative efforts of universities, technical committees and industry. The cross-disciplinary complexity of the issue and the historic lack of effort within in- dustry to address the associated problem have hampered progress. The reluctance to share in- formation (or proprietary restrictions) and the rush to market are also obstacles. Strict product support agreements or penalties regarding NFF thwart progress in this arena as well. The AIAA Product Support Committee shares a common goal with the Through-life Engineering Services Centre at Cranfield Uni- versity in the U.K. to educate and help guide the industry toward NFF reduction. The stakes for these new efforts were made clear during the Air Transport & Operations Symposium and International Meeting for Avia- tion Product Support Processes at the Delft Uni- versity of Technology in the Netherlands. It was reported that the NFF percentages for organi- zations not pursuing NFF reduction strategies were 40 percent for mechanical line replaceable units and 60 percent for avionic LRUs. Compa- nies aggressively pursuing reduction strategies such as ARINC 672, CASH (Conserve All Ser- viceable Hardware) and HSM (Holistic Systems Maintenance) report having far less NFF per- centages than those companies that do not. D ue to the aviation industry’s increased emphasis on lean practices, new efforts were launched in 2014 to address the costs of instances of no fault found, in which parts are removed from aircraft due to suspected faults, but subsequent tests are unable to identify anything wrong with them. Solutions to NFF problems can be quite challenging. NFF sometimes results when product test- ing on the ground does not accurately replicate the temperatures, vibrations or other conditions of flight. In other cases, the problem may have to do with the electrical harness or other equip- ment attaching the part to the aircraft. The Product Support Technical Committee launched three working groups in 2014 to ad- dress the NFF problem. These working groups aim to reduce NFF in their collective environ- ments using a disciplined, lean methodology derived from lessons learned and the standards document ARINC Report 672, “Guidelines for the Reduction of No Fault Found.” The guide- lines offer a structured approach that is suitable as a baseline. Interested parties are adapting the 672 guidelines to fit their respective en- vironments. It is from these activities that the ARINC 672 guidelines may be enhanced and the creation of NFF related standards such as fault reporting will ensue. The first of the new working groups, an en- gine/supplier group, has finished a compari- son of integrated performance requirements and test procedures. This review of applicable documentation is one of the first steps defined in the ARINC 672 guidelines. This working group has identified two different line replace- able units — parts designed to be easily plucked and replaced on an aircraft — which will be the focus of their follow-on efforts. Meanwhile, an airline/airframe/supplier group is focusing on identifying high-volume NFF parts for the supplier, that is part of the working group, to review using an in-house NFF process blended with the committee’s methodology. This working group has linked its NFF activity into the existing component re- liability collaboration forums that get rolled up to the supplier/original-equipment-manufac- turer executive levels to keep the focus on NFF reduction. The group’s efforts were scheduled to be showcased at a component reliability col- laboration symposium in December. Just starting is a third working group whose airline/airframe members are famil- iarizing themselves with the disciplined/lean methodology that the committee is using as the template for the working group’s efforts. AIRCRAFT AND ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS Reducing needless aviation parts replacement by Lori Fischer The Product Support Technical Committee advances the quality, technology, and excellence of post-production aviation products and services by providing an international, industry-wide forum for networking and exchanging of best practices. The removal/installation of an LRU. US Air Force U.S. Air Force A component bench test.
Transcript of AIRCRAFT AND ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS - Woodward€¦ · The AIAA Product Support Committee ... the...
36 AEROSPACE AMERICA/DECEMBER 2014
Beyond these working groups, recent NFF reduction efforts recognize that NFF does not restrict itself only to avionics intermittencies on aging aircraft. It can affect line replaceable units in any category and at any age in the respective lifecycle.
Significant research and time is being invested on a number of NFF fronts via the collaborative efforts of universities, technical committees and industry.
The cross-disciplinary complexity of the issue and the historic lack of effort within in-dustry to address the associated problem have hampered progress. The reluctance to share in-formation (or proprietary restrictions) and the rush to market are also obstacles. Strict product support agreements or penalties regarding NFF thwart progress in this arena as well.
The AIAA Product Support Committee shares a common goal with the Through-life Engineering Services Centre at Cranfield Uni-versity in the U.K. to educate and help guide the industry toward NFF reduction.
The stakes for these new efforts were made clear during the Air Transport & Operations Symposium and International Meeting for Avia-tion Product Support Processes at the Delft Uni-versity of Technology in the Netherlands. It was reported that the NFF percentages for organi-zations not pursuing NFF reduction strategies were 40 percent for mechanical line replaceable units and 60 percent for avionic LRUs. Compa-nies aggressively pursuing reduction strategies such as ARINC 672, CASH (Conserve All Ser-viceable Hardware) and HSM (Holistic Systems Maintenance) report having far less NFF per-centages than those companies that do not.
Due to the aviation industry’s increased emphasis on lean practices, new efforts
were launched in 2014 to address the costs of instances of no fault found, in which parts are removed from aircraft due to suspected faults, but subsequent tests are unable to identify anything wrong with them.
Solutions to NFF problems can be quite challenging.
NFF sometimes results when product test-ing on the ground does not accurately replicate the temperatures, vibrations or other conditions of flight. In other cases, the problem may have to do with the electrical harness or other equip-ment attaching the part to the aircraft.
The Product Support Technical Committee launched three working groups in 2014 to ad-dress the NFF problem. These working groups aim to reduce NFF in their collective environ-ments using a disciplined, lean methodology derived from lessons learned and the standards document ARINC Report 672, “Guidelines for the Reduction of No Fault Found.” The guide-lines offer a structured approach that is suitable as a baseline. Interested parties are adapting the 672 guidelines to fit their respective en-vironments. It is from these activities that the ARINC 672 guidelines may be enhanced and the creation of NFF related standards such as fault reporting will ensue.
The first of the new working groups, an en-gine/supplier group, has finished a compari-son of integrated performance requirements and test procedures. This review of applicable documentation is one of the first steps defined in the ARINC 672 guidelines. This working group has identified two different line replace-able units — parts designed to be easily plucked and replaced on an aircraft — which will be the focus of their follow-on efforts.
Meanwhile, an airline/airframe/supplier group is focusing on identifying high-volume NFF parts for the supplier, that is part of the working group, to review using an in-house NFF process blended with the committee’s methodology. This working group has linked its NFF activity into the existing component re-liability collaboration forums that get rolled up to the supplier/original-equipment-manufac-turer executive levels to keep the focus on NFF reduction. The group’s efforts were scheduled to be showcased at a component reliability col-laboration symposium in December.
Just starting is a third working group whose airline/airframe members are famil-iarizing themselves with the disciplined/lean methodology that the committee is using as the template for the working group’s efforts.
AIRCRAFT AND ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS
Reducing needless aviation parts replacementby Lori Fischer
The Product Support Technical Committee advances the quality, technology, and excellence of post-production aviation products and services by providing an international, industry-wide forum for networking and exchanging of best practices.
The removal/installation of an LRU.
US Air Force
U.S
. Air
Forc
e
A component bench test.
Aircraft & Atmospheric.indd 7 11/17/14 3:28 PM
