Case study · Aerospace & Defense
Helicopter operator raises fleet availability and dispatch reliability 6%
One of the world's largest helicopter operators, serving the oil and gas industry, needed better availability and dispatch reliability to win and keep business. USC and client teams worked 11 improvement projects across hangar planning, execution and materials.
Results
6%
increase in aircraft availability
6%
increase in dispatch reliability
40%
improvement in weekend cycle-time attainment
Availability and reliability gains also cut penalties and buy-backs.
The situation
In a competitive market, the operator needed better customer service, equipment availability and dispatch reliability to win and keep business and cut penalties.
What the assessment found
- Hangar supervisors working reactively while maintenance was being centralized
- Weak production control hurting schedule attainment
- No long-term planning and conflicts between bases, causing material shortages
- Poor workplace organization lowering engineer productivity
How the work was done
Planning: map the gaps
Mapped the hangar's round-the-clock planning and operation with system flows and prioritized the gaps.
Projects: work 11 key areas
Joint USC and client teams used project plans and Kaizen across 11 areas, with key performance indicators setting baselines and tracking improvement.
40%
improvement in weekend cycle-time attainment
Hangar: test before rollout
Tested each change in the hangar with the engineers so the implementation would hold.
17%
increase in weekend tasks completed
Lasting impact
Customers, who usually called only to complain, called to note the improvement in aircraft availability and reliability.
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