Spatial-temporal Analysis based-on Cyber-Physical Traceability and Visibility for Spare Parts Logistics in Aviation MRO

Abstract

Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO), is a required and strict procedure to ensure the safety of aircrafts and passengers in the aviation industry. Spare parts logistics serves as a fundamental part to support MRO activities and significantly affect the performance of the maintenance process. The characteristics, such as a wide range of part categories, lumpy demand pattern,  part return handling and strict spare parts quality control, increase the complexity of spare parts logistics. Forecasting models, production lifecycle management and inventory control are studied to improve the performance. However, several challenges still exist both in practice and research. Firstly, lack of process tracking and process control leads to the chaos of warehouse operations and loss of spare parts. Secondly, the inaccurate information of spare parts, including quantity and location, results in frequent demand cancellation and reallocation, further significantly affects the maintenance process. Thirdly, the asymmetric of information flow and physical material flow increases the operation costs of both warehouse operations and local distribution. Fourth, the traditional transportation management model (Just-In-Time) is not applicable to support the lumpy demand delivery and causes the failure of shortage or AOG (Aircraft On Ground) demand fulfillment. To address these challenges, this study aims at proposing a system framework as well as data-driven strategies in warehouse management and transportation management to maximize spare parts demand fulfillment in aviation MRO. In this seminar, Spatial-Temporal IoT-enabled Cyber Physical Systems is proposed to enable the traceability and visibility of spare parts logistics.