Arconics Maintenance and Engineering addresses the needs of aircraft M&E (maintenance and engineering) organisations to provide immediate access to the most up-to-date engineering documents and assets, irrespective of document provider, delivery mechanism or storage media.

Aircraft downtime and delays due to documentation access problems is a cost that airlines can live without. In addition, intensifying regulatory control of aircraft maintenance documentation (especially if maintenance is being outsourced) means that significant costs are incurred by airline operators and MROs (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) when managing, controlling and distributing documents such as ASM, AMM, MEL and IPC.

These challenges are exacerbated by the fact that different suppliers (airline and airline parts manufacturers) use different systems with which the aircraft M&E organisations must integrate.

Furthermore, any unusual or exceptional circumstances, such as network outages, or aircraft difficulties in remote or inaccessible locations, mean that effective contingency systems must be maintained.

M&E organisations often meet these demands through costly redundant and labour intensive processes. The costs and risks of a glitch are so great, airlines are prepared to invest in expensive personnel and systems to reduce or eliminate the possibility of outages or compliance failures.

The solution
Arconics Maintenance and Engineering is a solution that significantly simplifies maintenance document management, control and distribution. It provides centralised control over manuals and assets supplied on paper or as electronic files (PDF, SGML, HTML) distributed via CDROM or via the web, and centralised access to third-party document systems whether web-based or proprietary.

Arconics M&E Library Manager allows manual or asset based document management, and highlights inconsistencies or discrepancies between document versions maintained in different locations (e.g. at different hubs, libraries, or outsource partners) or on different media (paper, CDROM, Web).

Arconics M&E provides a single web-based access point to multiple vendor and regulator document systems. Airline manufacturers, engine suppliers and other suppliers often maintain their own document distribution systems which may be based on the Web, proprietary client-server systems, or on paper and CDROM, or some combination of these. Regulators such as the FAA, CAA and JAA also regularly publish critical documentation, which must be accessed by M&E staff. Arconics M&E provides centralised access to all these disparate systems over the web, together with airline specific access information, enabling staff to access up-todate documents on the third-party systems quickly and easily.

Arconics M&E also provides a robust centralised distribution system which enables documents to be distributed via multiple distribution channels, ensuring contingency systems are in place in the event that documents are required in locations where communications are limited.

The systems user manager allows personalisation of information by individual or groups. External MROs and partner organisation can be given secure access to specified sections or documents.

A range of interfaces are provided which enable most airline M&E requirements to be met out-of-the-box; however the system can be customised to meet specific needs. Workflows are provided to handle events (such as the arrival of a new manual or asset) to ensure tasks are processed in a complete, consistent and compliant manner.

The user can navigate to document and download only the pages required. This significantly increases the access speed from remote locations.


Main interface to Engineering documents and systems

Arconics document management interface -
Allows extensive control of document contribution, editing, version control and audit trail



The system allows seamless navigation of the full suite of manuals through a single interface.

 Key benefits

• Provides a common central communication channel that is designed specifically to support the needs of airlines' maintenance and engineering organisations.
• Manages multi-fleet, multi-manufacturer, multi-format manuals in a single integrated environment 
• Simplifies access to disparate vendor documentation systems for in-house staff and outsource partners
• Provides contingency options for access in the event of communications outages or difficulties
• The system can easily extract information from existing third party systems such as task cards, roster systems, aircraft maintenance schedules
• Facilitates compliance with airline authority documentation regulations
• Substantially reduces fixed overheads by publishing manuals, forms and notices electronically
• Reduces the need for technical publishing staff and for engineering managers  to spend time on commercially unproductive work 
• Avoids the investment trap of ad-hoc systems developed in-house that cost much more to run and maintain than they appear to save
• Combines patented Arconics technology with industry standards: ATA iSpec 2200, XML, SGML and Java
• Reduces training and mentoring costs through improved delivery of engineering knowledge targeted at staff development
• Quality, customer-focused support through the product life-cycle and offers a defined upgrade path
  Achieves accelerated return on investment due to ease-of-use and rapid deployment.

Beneficiaries

Arconics Engineering Edition will immediately free up people in the following roles from administrative tasks, and enable them to focus on strategic business objectives:

• Chief Engineers
• Directors/managers of fleet maintenance and engineering
• Quality and Compliance managers
• Operations and planning managers
  

Technical Requirements

Server - Minimum Specification
2 GHz Processor
1GB ram
1GB storage

End User machine- minimum specificaation
Windows 98
Internet Explorer 6
P2 500 Processor
128 MB ram