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www.avm-mag.com Chuck Krugh General Manager Jet Aviation St. Louis BIZAV
In your opinion, what is the state of the aviation maintenance industry? Due to economic uncertainties, we continue to see lower utilization of the aircraft. Flight hours are slowly increasing resulting in a competitive market environment for work within the industry. What were the biggest developments for your company in 2012? The biggest accomplishments in 2012 for Jet Aviation St. Louis involved safety, business transformation and our 200th green completion. The focus on safety paid off throughout our entire 1,000 person, nine hangar, 650,000- sq-ft operation. We recently set a new facility record for days without a recordable injury of 144 days, which surpassed our old record of 91 days established in 2012. With a goal of being better today than we were yesterday, Jet Aviation St. Louis began a process of business transformation. The facility was organized using LEAN methodology and 5S principles. From there, the incorporation of systems to engage team members, solve problems and create standardization resulted in an enhanced team environment. The efforts are paying big dividends. An effort to improve efficiency on interior integrations projects by 15-20 percent was actually surpassed, with the team cutting project down-times by nearly half and further reducing man-hours by almost 40 percent. We also delivered our 200th green aircraft completion on December 14, 2012—11 days ahead of schedule. With the 18 most recent aircraft delivering ahead of schedule, Jet Aviation St. Louis has developed proven systems for building highly customized aircraft in an efficient way, which enhances service for our MRO customers as well. What are the biggest changes you have seen in the MRO industry in the last several years? Material sales have been on a downward swing. Companies and owners are requesting fewer upgrades, less frills and focusing more on the maintenance requirements to keep the aircraft in flight.
What did your company do in 2012 to adapt to changes in the market? Thanks to our business transformation efforts, employees are informed, engaged and personally invested in the company’s success which translates into improved customer service and delivery performance. The focus on continuous improvement throughout Jet Aviation St. Louis brings together stakeholders from all departments to brainstorm and implement CI ideas: tasks, timelines, potential outcomes and expectations. We even formed our Continuous Improvement University to train employees in CI methodology and principles. We also addressed our hiring needs by developing a training program to support our cabinet shop. Interested persons receive training by our cabinetry team, and those who pass the course are hired into the shop as apprentices. What are the trends, big or small, you are beginning to see in the MRO business? We have seen a higher demand for mobile maintenance services, and Jet Aviation St. Louis now has three fully-stocked trucks that can be dispatched to assist customers upon their request.
How is your company leveraging partnerships and alliances for success? Jet Aviation is working closely with local universities and colleges. We call upon them to enhance our employee training activities in areas like program management, and we work with them to find talented team members. Jet Aviation also partners with our local community to offer support and charitable contributions through organizations including local food banks, community organization, schools and United Way.
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50 Aviation Maintenance |
avm-mag.com | April 2013
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