airline spare part inventory

[pm07a2m]

Hello all,
I have a question fir those involved with spare parts and logistics (quality managers, technical storemans etc)...

I work for a helicopter company operate a fleet of 12 helicopters, as you can immagine we have a rather large spare part inventory. However we are thinking of changing the program we use to insert and keep a database of the whole inventory...

We currently use a programme called Filemaker but we need to change, its a program in .dos and if you delete something its gone forever (you can immagine how this could lead to errors)...

Does anyone have any suggestion on what programs to use?? We have two IT experts that are making a program just for our spare parts but im a bit sceptical...

I was wondering what the larger airlines/maintenace centers use to keep a track of all their spare parts (each individual tag, the position of thier EASA form one/8130, their physical position on the shelf, the quantity etc)


thanks!!:ok:

[john_tullamarine]

There is a range of Industry maintenance management software in the marketplace.

Why would you want to scarify yourself by developing something from scratch ?

I'll leave this thread here for a while for local input but I think it will do far better in the engineering forum.

For interest, we use the proprietary CAMP (http://www.campsys.com/Support.asp?CLICK=TRAINING) package and, while not suggesting that it is the way for you to go, we get good value from it. Certainly imposes an overhead in the maintenance admin side of things but has very useful reporting cabilities.

A simple net search will bring up a range of competing products.

Definitely not worth the dramas of trying to reinvent the wheel ..

[flynerd]

@pm07a2m Ah, filemaker for dos, I remember it well. You state that you have IT experts making a new system for this. If they have the time and if they design it right, then you should be good to go.
One thing to ask them though, is what database system are they planning to use. Ideally it should be a SQL based system, and not something like Access, or flat files.

Otherwise, as already suggested, look around for a ready built system to fit your needs.

FN

[grounded27]

Generally the 8130's go into a file cabinet and get replaced with a parts tag with a bar code. Parts are classified into 2 major groups rotable and expendable. Expendables need a chain of custody as well down to a washer, they are usually tagged with a sticker and maintained in a bag up until the time thay are installed on the aircraft even in a batch as long as you can tie it back to the origional PO the feds seem happy.

[Golf-Sierra]

I think in today's times it is almost crazy to develop such a system from scratch.

There are hundreds of off-the-shelf systems which will do the job.

I don't know anything about the size of your organisation or the desire to tie this system in with other functions within the organisation (finance, invoicing, works order management). I personally work with Dynamics AX from Microsoft, but that's targetted rather at larger organisations.

You might want to start be reading this article (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=mro&id=news/omcvr508.xml&headline=ERP%20For%20MRO:%20An%20Alternative%20Perspective).



Regards,

Golf-Sierra

[Hedge36]

Filemaker on DOS. Oy :eek:

[Heathrow Cargo]

I know of someone that has written and sold such a program, if you are interested I will try to find out the details and cost.

How many items do you have in stock and what is your throughput?