Introducing Critical Path Analysis in an EASA 145 Production Organisation
Commercial Aircraft are very expensive commodities and aircraft availability is a major consideration, as a result attention paid to aircraft down time during maintenance activities is also of importance.
As a result developing the most effective aircraft schedule is highly relevant. It is very worthwhile to structure the maintenance check so that all individual “task” which together form the maintenance check are carried out in the most effective sequence so that we do not waste either down time or manpower.
An additional feature is that effective production planning has the potential to deliver cost savings, whilst maintenance scheduling is easy to understand as a concept it delivers often difficult to solve problems driven by the complexities of operation. A well-managed production planning process provides for a confidence in the most effective delivery of the Maintenance process.
Critical Path Process are relevant whether we are considering a single task or detailed collection of interrelated activities, ideally taking into account minor, major and non-routine tasks to endeavor at all times to achieve the optimum outcome.
The whole point of Critical Path Analysis in EASA 145 Production Planning is to identify the “critical path” means to pay specific attention to the sequence which must be followed to ensure the activity is completed in the minimum time.
It is understood that in performing the task in the optimum way we will meet some elements which may be completed in parallel and other tasks which must be completed sequentially. To plan a sequence of activities in the best way requires us to understand the interrelationship of all tasks whilst at the same time to pay attention to the needs of manpower, tooling equipment and facilities.
Critical Path Analysis may be particularly useful when planning larger tasks which have limited resources, the output of the CPA process can be used to enable the preparation of the schedule, and both the planning and allocation of manpower and other resources.
We also need to consider the specific event relationships where for example a particular task – jacking is to be performed before a pre-inspection task – de-paneling. Tasks which may be considered as serial tasks typically sit in the general time line and may be considered as forming part of the Critical Path.
Conversely tasks which may be performed in parallel can be completed almost at any time and in concurrence with Serial task. Such tasks usually do not impact the time line and are not considered as forming part of the Critical Path.
Critical Path Analysis is covered as part of the 3 Day Production Planning course delivered by Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com and is also available as part of the online training program of www.sofemaonline.com - Developing More Effective Production Planning Processes.
About this course:
Course type: Presentation without voice over
Approximate duration: up to 7 hours training
Category: Part 145
Price: 77.50 USD
For additional details please email us at office@sassofia.com or online@sassofia.com
